Fasting is the willful act of abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both. Various dictionaries and encyclopedias describe it a little differently, but that's what it boils down to. The length of time for fasting depends entirely on the purpose for fasting or the intended results.

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The Da Vinci Code is an excellent film. The religious content could be replaced with just about anything else and it would still be entertaining. I know a lot of people wouldn't agree with me, but I don't care. This movie (and the book it was based on) isn't about religion; it's about power and the people who use power to suppress information that shouldn't be suppressed.

In this story, Professor Langdon is lured into a treasure hunt for the most valuable treasure in the world: The Holy Grail. It wasn't his choice — the French government, along with some powerful people in the Catholic church, implicated him in murder. Anyway, this is as far as I'll go with it, lest I spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

The Da Vinci Code stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany and Alfred Molina. Here's a clip of the final scenes in the movie with some awesome background music.

This article is more than just an update. It's also a bit of a follow-up to Scott's article, Religion – Who Needs it? I have no motives behind writing it this way; I have nothing to hide.

Yesterday morning (locally), I prayed a little to the creator of all things. I was in pain and suffering tremendously. My lower left leg was almost double the size of my lower right leg. I received answers about my situation and it was all fetched from my own memories and knowledge. Religion does not teach us how to pray or how to understand the answers when we ask questions. I have had great success in my personal life since I cut out the middlemen.

Since my wife departed on the 20th of May, my son had behaved as if she never left. We used to call him Prince Jon because he always expected to be cared for and fed and such and would only do his part when forced to do so. Even if I asked, he wouldn't do something as simple as washing dishes (unless I later told him, not giving him a choice). God put the hurt on me on June 10th in order to teach him selflessness. That was the sole purpose.

Since that day, Jon has cooked and cleaned and tended to my care — until yesterday when he started his first day of his second year of college. When he arrived home, there was one thing I had to have him do and it was part of the reason the swelling didn't start going down immediately. God's purpose was served, but I wasn't prepared for recovery.

Remembering a lesson from a biochemist I knew back in the 90s (and not Scott), your body requires certain compounds for tissue regeneration. Protein, water, and sugar are three that I can remember offhand. Sugar! I had no sugar content in my food or drink since getting ill. I had only been drinking water for more than a week and a minimal amount of food and no fruit.

I had Jon make me a glass of sweetened iced tea. Just one. When I awoke this morning, both he and I were amazed that the swelling had gone down considerably, more than halfway. I will be drinking another glass this evening, after he returns home from school.

You may have heard the phrase that says, "God works in mysterious ways." It's not mysterious at all once you keep religion out of the picture.

Many look to conventional or alternate religions to help sort out complex thoughts about self and our obligation to others or to deal with the many emotions that affect our lives. I am generally skeptical of those who organize religion because they tend to teach denial of passion, and curb creative thinking and the discovery of ones self. This type of teaching dulls the poignant impact of emotion, discovery and thought and normalizes these experiences from hot and cold to lukewarm. The extreme sensations of emotion, discovery and thought are necessary to a life of meaning and importance. The experience of discovering truths brings definition to our lives. It is important to spend time with oneself to completely understand these truths. Too often religious or other types of groups encourage its members to seek out help from other members to learn truths, or teach that individuality is selfish. I do not understand how a group can be sound if the individuals that support it are not first independently sound. It would be like making fried eggs from ones you scrambled earlier. I learn truths about life and myself best when I have had solitary time by myself to fully understand them.

Religious leaders wield an awesome responsibility. I avoid religious leaders who use fear to manipulate people, preaching the virtues of oppressed lifestyles, gaining power from its mind dulling effect on free will. I believe that the loss of free will leads to hopeless and oppressive beliefs. A creative mind thrives when grounded in healthy beliefs built on a foundation of understanding and experience. Often times hopelessness evolves into a belief that all life is worthless. This creates an environment where disconnected individuals may act out experiments simply to entertain themselves without regard for emotion or guilt. Those who adopt this view act as cold machines; they lose touch with that which connects humanity, they loose touch with emotion. Brainwashed, they believe they are not responsible for their actions and may therefore do anything, as it is inherent or expected.

Ask not what religion can do for you but what you can do for religion.

Religious organizations fundamental purpose should be to encourage self-discovery. I realize that this is a bit of an oxymoron. Consider that perhaps mutual discoveries can be made as part of the culture of a religious group if the discovery is obtained through introspection and not simply taught or copied. All too often, when facing the opportunity for growth we gravitate to the sense of peace we obtain by belonging to a group and letting someone else work out our problems for us. We find comfort in familiarity and avoid the pain associated with learning. Religion can significantly contribute to self-discovery when the group can resist the urge to "help" and encourages individuals through their introspective journey to enlightenment.

I have read the scriptures in Genesis from the beginning to Noah (Genesis chapters 6-9) many, many times and it is my sincere belief that Noah and his family were not spared solely because he was righteous in the eyes of God. I believe it was also because Noah's blood line was not corrupted by the genetic corruption caused by the "sons of God" that had offspring with human women. The period of time leading to Genesis 6 was long enough for the population to have been completely infested with mutated genes. Incestuous relationships were later banned because the offspring from close next of kin relationships could cause birth defects and genetic mutations.

In Leviticus 17, the eating of blood was forbidden because it was the "life" of every creature. They had no concept of DNA in those times, but blood contains components that flesh does not (not including DNA) and I believe this is exactly the life that's being talked about. Why it was forbidden to eat it, I don't know. I know people eat pig blood all the time now (at least here in the Philippines). This is an evil practice, regardless of why it was forbidden. I will never partake in it.

When a person donates blood, that person is donating not just blood, but every genetic piece of information from that person's body. When a person receives that blood, during surgery or for a transfusion, that person is receiving genetic information. Even with modern science, there are problems with compatibility, diseases being passed to the recipient, and other things I don't even want to think about. It's evil in my eyes and no better than what happened in Genesis. I will never donate blood or receive it of my own free will.

Organ donations and transplants are in the same category as blood. I will never donate an organ or receive one voluntarily. I've made it plain and clear to all of my next of kin that if I am required to have real human blood or a real human organ in order to live, then let me die. I do not want my body corrupted with someone else's body parts and I have no desire to corrupt someone else's body with mine. I have been lucky so far because I have never needed any surgery in my 46 years of life, not even stitches.

While we're on the subject of genetics (which I believe to be evil in all forms), what about cloning and genetically modified foods? Evil, evil, evil! It took me a while to figure out why people were pushing for organic foods when I realized exactly what they were talking about. I thought organic was anything that came from nature. It turns out they were talking about food that hasn't been tampered with by genetics. There are companies trying to import genetically modified rice into the Philippines but the Filipinos are fighting to keep them out. This is rice that has been genetically modified to contain human DNA. How more evil can you get?

Modern science is filled with evil intentions. They are producing chimeras as I write this. If you don't know what that is, I'll explain. In genetics, a chimera is an organism composed of two or more genetically distinct tissues, as an organism that is partly male and partly female, or an artificially produced individual having tissues of several species. The worst part about it is that they are trying to produce chimeras that include human DNA.

When it comes to this argument between science and religion, I side with religion. God gave mankind the tools and the incentive to advance to modern science. He did not give it to us in order for us to pervert life in this way.

Edit: I said DNA for blood for a lack of better terminology. What I meant was the components of blood that don't exist in the flesh. I don't know the exact components. Sorry about that.

Follow-Up Article: The Evil of Genetics Revisited

While I'm not an atheist or agnostic, I really do have an issue with Christian-based religions. The clergy, citing the Holy Bible as an authority, have a moral responsibility to tell nothing but the truth. Why is it then, that when you ask them a question they can't answer, they brush it off without bothering to do the research? What about the followers? Too many that I've known over the years take the words of the church leaders as facts without checking the references for themselves.

I want to use a controversial topic as an example: Polygamy. I heard a national broadcast where a preacher answered the question of why Solomon had so many wives. The preacher said that Solomon married them all to get around the issue of adultery. This is complete and utter hogwash. People actually believe this lie! The reason polygamy existed before the Christian-based churches denounced it was because the definition of adultery in those days was the not same definition we have of it today. If our current definition of adultery IS the same, then why were some specific people in the Old Testament blessed by God despite living in this sin? It doesn't work both ways.

I not only have an issue with the church leaders, but the followers as well. The followers need to crack open the good book and read for themselves instead of asking so many questions. If they can read, they can understand the majority of it. The only help they ever need is interpretation of ambiguous passages.

Brace yourself. James Cameron, the man who brought you 'The Titanic' is back with another blockbuster. This time, the ship he's sinking is Christianity.

Read the rest of the story here: Jesus: Tales from the Crypt

Personally, I don't think anything can be proven… but if it can, this will cause the biggest ripple in Christianity since it began.

If you're a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, or a member of any number of God-fearing religions, I ask you to take a few minutes to think about the questions I'm going to ask you. The purpose is not to belittle you or your religion in any way, but to make you think about the things you believe in so fervently.

It's a matter of scriptural record that God created the messengers (otherwise known as "angels") before he created mankind. Why do you suppose he did that? Some of the things I have been told include serving mankind and delivering messages to mankind. If God is all seeing and all knowing, why would he need messengers? Could it be because they are his "eyes and ears"?

In the scriptures, mention is made of a "chariot of fire" that whisked Elijah to heaven. The book of Ezekiel mentions something that he could only describe as "four living beings" joined together with the ability to hover. These were simple people from simple times, obviously much simpler than our own. Is it possible they were describing, in the best way they knew how, what modern people would call aircraft or spacecraft?

If you consider the possibility that what I'm asking is true, could the "flying saucers" that people have seen be the craft that the "messengers" use to observe us? Could the sheer population on planet Earth require advanced methods like this to keep tabs on us?

Would any of this, in your eyes, make God any less a god? In my opinion, it shouldn't. Life had to have started somewhere, and it couldn't have started by itself.