Why Must there be a God

If the general picture of a big bang followed by an expanding universe is correct, then what happened before that. Was the universe devoid of all matter? And then the matter somehow somewhere happened, how did that happen? In most cultures the common answer is that a God or Gods created the universe out of nothing. But if we wish to pursue this question courageously we must be willing to ask the next question, Where did God come from?

If we decide that this is an unanswerable question, why don't we save a step and conclude that the origin of the universe is an unanswereable question. Or if we conclude that God always existed why don't we save a step and conclude that the Universe always existed? There's no need for a creation it was always here.

Carl Sagan
The Cosmos

He who has not the strength to question his own surroundings does not deserve thy own life.

Building Homes in Mexico

Yeah, the aetheist has infiltrated for the good cause.

Last and this weekend I spent working with a church group called Hands of Mercy. They build homes in Mexico for families in need. The cause is right and since I've volunteered in the past with Habitat for Humanity I thought this may be a nice change.

Having a place to live is the most important thing someone can have in this world and groups like Habitat and Hands of Mercy help people in need of getting them. I figured that the cause was worth spending two entire days with a Christian group and although they restricted the recipients of the homes only to those families who would be willing to receive the home in the name of Jesus Christ I felt the cause was worth while.

Mexico was awesome, of course this is not the first time I've been there, but this is the first time I've been right in the community and not at a resort. They've got to be 100 years behind in their agriculture, infrastructure, and public education. For the most part the living conditions to most americans would seem deplorable, shanty homes with bars on the windows, most homes incomplete without any siding on the homes and very few paved roads. But there were signs of commerce.

The most interesting sign of that commerce was the taqueria's (Taco Vendors). There were several in even the smallest communities. This in itself may not seem so amazing but when you consider that most of them were also open 24 hours a day, and this is in a country where most people can barely afford food much less the ability to go out. Then in the more dense areas of Ensenada there were corporate businesses such as Costco, McDonalds, and others including Mexican origin corporations. New to the area they stuck out with their clean exteriors and bright lighting, completely different from the other local business made of used pieces of plywood and a small light.

The construction in this area is the root of the economy. The ability to now own property without the fear the government would come in and claim it at any time has prospered corporatiions to build resorts and Canadian's and Californian's to buy vacation properties throughout the region. Land Sellers are selling land in Mexico at almost any home convention you go to here in California and I'm sure throughout most of the southwest, offering lots for as little as 5k per acre and homes on the beach starting at 250,000. A bargain from the California perspective.

All in all it was a good weekend. We helped some people and I met some really interesting people, of course I felt it best to leave out my thoughts on religion as I was relying on others for a ride home. LOL.