My new book is now available on Amazon. I am told it is far better than my first one. I think it will do far better because it is
priced far more reasonable. Tht Kindle copy is only $3.95 and the
paperback is only $5.95.
That is about one third the price of my first book. I had no control
over that price but for this book I found a publisher who agreed to a much lower price.
The book is only 77 pages and the first 7 pages are posted below.
I can be reached for comments at Darwinian200@gmail.com
Back Cover
The battle rages between materialism and theology. The materialist says your life and the universe are just a happy accident with no meaning or purpose, and it will all end, for you, the day you die. The theologians say, no, you were born with the sin of Adam, deserving Hell. But God sent his son as a blood sacrifice to save you from that fate. And if you believe that story, you will inherit eternal paradise. But if you find yourself unable to believe that story, you will burn in Hell forever.
This book explains why you have been conditioned, almost since birth, to believe only one of those stories or the other. This book presents overwhelming evidence that both of those stories are wrong.
The universe does have meaning; your life has a purpose, Hell does not exist, and your fate has nothing to do with religion.
For the Amazon page click on the title below.
The Soul Survives and Religion Lies
By Ron Patterson
Copyright © 2023 Ron Patterson
Excerpts from this book may be quoted, printed, or posted so long as they are properly sourced and accredited.
ISBN:
Dedication
Dedicated to the memory of my son, Jeff. He loved life, loved people, and hated no one. He was taken by the gay plague in the prime of his life. I hope to meet him again.
Author’s Note
This is my second book. The first one, “A Worldview According to Evidence,” written over a year ago, was a dud. Written in haste and submitted to a self-publisher whom I believe ripped me off and gave me no control over pricing. They priced the book, Kindle, and paperback, way above what the market could bear. Both should have been priced at less than half of what they were priced at. To say the book did poorly would be an understatement.
However, since almost no one read the book, I have repeated a few points I made in that book. But only a few. Also, looking back, the book was written from a different perspective. I plan to correct that problem in this book. I will be brief, using as few words as possible to convey my point. I will not try to baffle you with bullshit using sesquipedalian* words when a much shorter term would do. (*A foot and a half long.) I will write in a vernacular that any young adult can understand. Though if you are a deeply religious person, you will find some of it offensive, perhaps even shocking. If so, you may assume that was my intention.
My reasons for writing this short book are to avoid misleading anyone. I am a strong advocate of the scientific method. I believe in science though I believe science has a blind spot, which I will describe in detail later in the book. For almost all my adult life, I have called myself an atheist. However, some would label me as a deist. I wouldn’t say I like that label. The word “deist,” like the word “god,” means something different to different people. I believe the universe was set into motion by some conscious entity. I must confess I have absolutely no idea as to the nature of that conscious entity.
Contents
Skepticism as a Belief System.. 3
Stating the Obvious Why We Believe. 6
The Accepted Paradigm of Our Peers. 8
The Rest of the True Believers. 12
Reason, Logic, and Evidence. 13
A Closer Look at the Birth of the Universe. 35
There Must Have Been a Purpose. 42
Our Belief System
Premise
I am an old man, 85 years of age, and in fair health. Most would say I am a presumptuous old fool to attempt to write such a book as I now try to write. They would say that because I am not a scientist, philosopher, or a member of any profession that deals with the subjects I am about to critique. But I have studied all of them all long life. A short bio is in order. In it, I will explain why I feel qualified to embark on this attempt to critique the subjects in this book.
I was born in a three-room sharecropper’s shack in 1938. I was the sixth of ten siblings, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Dirt farmers, in those days, usually had many children. Children were farmhands that only cost the farmer room and board. They also gave the farmer and his wife much love and all the heartaches and problems with raising children.
In those days, dirt farming was backbreaking labor. I hated every minute of it. In high school, I had no direction for my life. I only knew that I would not be a farmer. But luckily, a few years after I graduated from high school, and with the aid of electronics training I received in the US Air Force, I found the job I dearly loved.
Though I had no engineering degree, my job title was “Field Service Engineer.” I worked for a large mainframe computer manufacturer. About twenty percent of my time was spent either on the road or repairing large mainframe computers or their peripherals. I spent the rest of the time in my office, if I was lucky enough to be a resident engineer, or in my home, reading about my favorite subject of the day. Read More