One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Miss...

   This is the amount of time I had to contemplate the fact that I was just about to slowly slide into the rear bumper of a BMW three weeks ago.
   I have relived that moment over and over and timed it all out in my mind and I believe the timing is accurate---about two and half seconds.
   I had been driving here and there that morning and really had had no problems with my stopping ability at intersections. There had been a cold snap the previous evening and I had been extra cautious but then found out that the main intersections had been well taken care of by the city work crews and traction was not particularly an issue.
   As I pulled into the left-hand turn lane in which the BMW had preceded me, though, I ran into the exact opposite of the driving conditions I had already been experiencing. Instead of wet pavement, I now found myself on a sheet of ice. I'm not sure whether the city trucks just missed salting/sanding the left hand lane or whether perhaps it was the smaller amount of traffic going through but it was a skating rink.
   In that two and a half seconds, I had no idea I was about to slide into the back of a BMW---all I knew was that I was about to negatively impact a complete stranger through my own inattention and a little bit of bad luck.

Pretty well the last thing I saw before the big crunch! (minus the green grass...)

   People's cars seem sacrosanct, sort of like holy vessels of transportation, and damaging one of them is abhorrent. I don't worry about my own so much but I hate like hell smucking up someone else's.
   When we got out to survey the damage I found myself face-to-face with a rather refined-looking woman with a British accent. She had not been injured and was not irate and we simply went about checking our vehicles.
   There was very little apparent damage and we almost just drove away from the accident scene before I noticed some broken pieces of plastic under her bumper. At this point, we opted to go through the whole police inspection/insurance procedure.
   When I actually got my car to the reporting centre, we discovered a broken grill---all the little bits of plastic I'd seen underneath her vehicle actually belonged to mine. This actually made me feel a little better.
   Later on that afternoon, I got the car into Carstar Autobody for an estimate and ended up looking at about $400 worth of damage, all of it coming out of my pocket. 
   It always feels like home when I walk into Carstar. Over the years, I've had many an occasion to stroll in. Generally, it's because someone has run into me---there have been a rash of occurrences where people have hit me while I'm stopped. I have no idea why this is but my firm belief is that, in some way, I am invisible. I discussed this in a previous post which you are welcome to view here, if you so desire.
   So the people at Carstar now greet me as family, so to speak, and I am always happy to see them. They give me back a brand-new car (at least it seems like that) and for that I am grateful. I do, however, feel a little like a bad child when the damage is my fault.
   
    

Death!! (the suspense is killing me...)

   Nearly two weeks ago, I wrote a post about Bob Ripley, the former United Church preacher who, after much agonizing and deliberation, had decided to become an atheist. He wrote about this in his new book, "Life After Belief: A Preacher's Deconversion".
   In my post, I mentioned how closely I found my own beliefs aligned with those of Ripley---it seemed as though we had traveled more or less the same path, at least in our hearts and minds.
   What I didn't talk about was what I found to be the most significant difference between his beliefs and mine.
   Ripley believes that, once you die, it is the end of things. There is no God, no heaven and no afterlife.
   I, on the other hand, believe there is a possibility that a portion of our energy goes on in at least somewhat of a conscious state.
   What I base this on is difficult to pinpoint. Science tells me that energy cannot be destroyed, that it merely changes forms. Anecdotal evidence suggests to me that spirits exist and we can communicate with them. Because of this, I am willing to hope and assume that something will become of me after I die.
   There are enough tales out there describing near-death experiences and people who claim to have seen wonderful glimpses of the afterlife that there is some contentment in believing that I will experience some of this when the time comes.
   Ripley believes that death is essentially the same as what you experienced before you were born---nothing. He points out all the time of the world's existence and all the monumental things which have occurred over the millenia---all of which were no consequence to us in our unborn state. And it will essentially be this same state we pass into upon our deaths. 
   I have considered this as well, as a possibility, and have come to the conclusion that this is the worst possible thing death might mean. And it really isn't all that bad, when you

Remember any of this?

stop to think about it. I think of dinosaurs, the Roman Empire and I think about concentration camps and then I think that all of those things existed without me and that I was fine with all that. Then, when I am dead, I will be fine with all of everything that happens for eternity. So what's to be scared of?
   I do, however, believe there's more to it than that.
   I believe that the actual moments of death will be a wonderful experience. Granted, there may be some suffering and anguish leading up to it but, when that moment comes, I believe I will welcome it. I am anticipating a yes, this is what it's all about type of experience.
   After that, who knows?
   I fully expect to encounter some form of cognizant state after I pass away, but to what extent I'm not sure. I also wonder whether it will be a lasting state or one which constantly changes. It might well be that the energy I take with me to the other side will slowly and eventually dissipate, leaving me in the pre-birth state I described above. The main thing is, I don't think it will scary and unpleasant, quite the contrary.
   

Thanks!

This, then, is where Bob Ripley and might disagree. He believes in a nothingness after death and I believe there will be an experience to be had.
   I quite often find myself  jealous of the people I have known who have passed. They have received answers to many of our great questions and they are not doing a good job of sharing them with us. I can only imagine that this is now one of their privileges, part of the rite of passage, so to say. The irony is that we all want to know, we just don't want to find out!
    
   
  
     

The Deconverted Mr. Ripley

     This year, for Christmas, I received a copy of the book "Life Beyond Belief: A Preacher's Deconversion".
   It was written by a gentleman named Bob Ripley who, for the last 30 years, has been an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. Fifteen of those years were spent as the senior minister at Metropolitan United Church, one of the most prominent United churches in Canada, here in London, Ontario. For 25 years, he has also been a syndicated columnist, writing weekly about religion and spiritual matters.
   I have read his column in the London Free Press off and on over the years and always found them to be informative, entertaining and easy to read. For those many years his readers knew him as "Rev. Bob Ripley". Then things changed.
   I was reading his column a few weeks ago and noticed that there was no longer a "Rev." in front of his name. This struck me as being strange but I kind of passed it off. Then, shortly thereafter, I read an article about him in the Free Press and discovered that he had renounced his faith and become an atheist.
   My reaction to this was not hmm, that's kind of interesting, it was more like woo hoo, that's cool!
   I am an atheist myself and find I am drawn to people who either believe in deities strongly or, conversely, don't believe in them at all. My question for either group always seems to be why?
   In Bob Ripley's case, I found it fascinating that a person who for all appearances had been living and breathing Christianity these many years had seemingly suddenly just...changed his mind!

   At the same time I discovered that Rev. Bob Ripley was now just plain old Bob Ripley, I also found out that he had written a book describing in some detail the lengthy and difficult (as you can imagine) process he'd undergone in coming to the realization that there is no God. This, then, the book I requested for Christmas (the irony is not lost on me) and this, then, the book I received!
   A lifetime spent studying theology and spiritual matters has made Ripley a knowledgeable man, not only in regard to Christianity but also most of the other major religions. Throughout the book, he will often draw comparisons between the religions.
   What he ends up describing, as he writes, was the slow and steady realization he came to that the things we are being asked to believe in the writings and teachings of the major religions (most notably, in this case, the Bible) are simply things which make little sense. We are asked to believe things that could not have happened and we are asked to believe things which modern day science has disproved. He also takes great pains to point out, with quotes, the discrepancies between the different Gospels in the Bible as to what happened when, where and how. After awhile, it became quite apparent that the Bible was very much a man-made thing and maybe not so much the word of God.
   He also points to his increasing interest, as an adult, in the scientific world as one of the things which started guiding him to his deconversion. Faced with the ever-increasing things we find out almost daily about the universe, it was impossible for him to reconcile his religious beliefs with what he knew to be actual fact.
   More than anything, he became a man who was distressed with what he saw as groups of people who had, from ancient time times up to the present, used religion as a reason for inflicting suffering upon other groups of people. He quotes passages from the Bible and other religious tomes which call for the destruction of enemies and non-believers. He goes on to provide historical examples of religion being invoked solely to justify greed and power-mongering.
   As I read, I personally found myself feeling more justified and reassured in my own beliefs. In terms of religion I am nothing more than a layperson in my understanding of things. Here then, in black and white, was a man who knew what he was talking about and had come to many of the same conclusions I had!
   As you might have guessed, Bob Ripley has lost some friends. New friends, however, have been made. He also says there are aspects of the Church he misses, such as the music and the fellowship. I can only imagine the inner turmoil the man must have been going through, to think about the thousands he ministered to or counselled, the weddings he performed and the funerals he officiated over all in the guise of being a man of God and then to feel it necessary to renounce all that.
   He relates that one of his former parishioners talked to him after he proclaimed himself an atheist and thanked him for having helped her through a difficult time. Sometimes words of support do the trick, regardless of whether there's divine inspiration for them or not!
   Bob continues to write his column and if you're interested in reading the particular column he wrote about his life-altering decision, you can read it here. As I mentioned before, I enjoyed reading his work when he was still an ordained minister. At the same time, I viewed him as a Christian writing about principally Christian things and, being an atheist, there was always at least a subliminal grain of doubt nestled there in my brain. Now, he has erased whatever small misgivings I might have had and there is a somewhat more welcoming and comfortable space for him.
   I read "Life Beyond Belief" in two days, interspersed with much holiday goings-on. It is obviously a thought-provoking read. On the back cover, one of the book's reviewers, Rev. Dr. Daniel Meester of the Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, NY declares, "If you're a Christian, you should take this book seriously, and if you're not...you'll find companionship." I would echo that.
   A humourous note. On Christmas Day, my wife, Doralyn and I were in the kitchen, working on dinner prep. My mother-in-law was in the livingroom and had picked up and was perusing my new copy of Ripley's book. She called out to us and made a reference to "Ripley". Doralyn didn't quite hear her and asked me what she'd said. I told her the reference had been to the Bob Ripley book. Doralyn said, "Oh..I thought she was talking about Ripley's Believe It Or Not..." At which point I replied, "Apparently he doesn't!"