April 7th, 2009
For way too much of my adult life I tried to make sense of the obvious contradictions in the Bible. I was taught that the Holy Ghost wrote the whole thing through his saintly persons so there couldn’t be any Bible contradictions or inconsistencies, but there they were in plain sight! They screamed out at me and the more I tried to defend against the obvious, the more insane and irrelevant I became: for the very one I was trying to promote.
Once I gave up trying to defend two indefensible positions, life became a lot easier to live: God became a lot easier to talk about to others. Here is what I’ve come to accept.
1-The Bible does not present a consistent view of God.
2-The Bible is not clear on the destiny of humanity.
So, I’ve had to sort though all the Hebrew and Greek ideas of God, among other paradigms. I’ve had to match what the Bible says with what my experience is with God, and then try to intellectually articulate what it is that I’ve come to embrace. That’s not easy and that’s probably why people don’t even want to try.
It’s much easier to just go with the flow! Going agianst it doesn’t pay! Accept what you’re told - in faith! Don’t use your brain, don’t think too hard, and above all be very careful about what you read as you might get led astray. And if any doubts crawl into your head - beware, for it the work of the Devil. Yeah, right! As though I’ve not already been led around by the nose?
So, which translation of the Bible do you read? How do we deal with the differences? Does it matter? And the answer is no until you disagree with someone on something that they believe deeply - then it matters a great deal.
Humans wrote the Bible. Sometimes those authors got it right; sometimes they missed it by a mile. Sometimes the authors were inspired by God and other times they were just writing some poetry out of their own hurt and suffering. Some books didn’t make it into the canons that I feel should have but I’m okay with what we have because I can still read the other gnostic books, lost gospels, and misc. epistles that some of the early fathers felt should be kept out of the canon.
It’s a slippery slope when the only thing left for you to rely upon is your own brain to lead you through the maze of disconnects and inconsistencies. But, for me it’s far more exciting and alive than the super glue slope where you become stuck (in your childhood teachings) and can’t move in any direction.
Bible contradictions? Absolutely. So, let’s talk about them. It’s incredibly exciting.
Tags: Bible Authors, Canons, Poetry
Posted in Religion | 1 Comment »
March 31st, 2009
I am not a Christian because…
Nobody can explain why there is evil in the world. The Bible states that God is love and that he is light and that there is no darkness in him. It follows that evil is not part of Him. So where did it come from? And why did he allow it? How can he be benevolent and allow evil at the same time?
Epicurus, who lived about 3 centuries before Christ, gave an eloquent summary of this dilemma -
“Is God willing to prevent evil but not able?
Then He is not omnipotent.
Is He able but not willing?
Then He is malevolent.
Is He both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is He neither able nor willing?
Then why call Him God?”
Tags: Epicurus, malevolent, problem of evil
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
March 31st, 2009
Suppose I have heard a lot about salvation through Christ from my Christian friends and I would like to know some more. I approach one of them and ask: “What should I do to be saved?” Guess what the most likely answer to that question is going to be. Right. “Believe and you will be saved!” But I happen to be the kind of person that needs a little bit more detail when dealing with such important subjects. “What exactly should I believe in?” Aha! Now that is where most of my Christian friends are going to have a problem. So, should I simply believe in the historical person that lived two thousand years ago somewhere in Palestine and taught people to be loving? “Oh no, that is not enough!” answer some of my Christian friends. “You also have to believe that He was the Son of God.” Ok, no problem. “Yes, but that is not enough!” respond some of my other believing friends. “You also have to believe in the Trinity - the idea that God has a triune nature.” Now, after their mind boggling explanation about what that actually means, I accept. Is that enough? “No, you still have to believe that Jesus’ resurrection was in the bodily form and not simply in the spirit!” object some of my other Christian friends. Sure, I accept that. Satisfied? “No dude, you have to believe in the immaculate conception of Christ. This is very important. Without it Christ would have been just a sinful person like you and me!” objects another Christian group. Ok, accepted. “Yes, but without being baptized you cannot be saved!” “But what about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?” “And don’t forget the Baptism of Fire!” “Yeah, yeah, and the speaking in tongues!” “And you have to marry a Christian girl!” “And when you have sex you must not use condoms!” “Also, you have to attend the church regularly!” and on and on and on…
After all is said and done it looks like in order to be saved you have to know and be able to do so many things that your abilities would border with unlimited powers, in which case you yourself are God and don’t need any salvation.
So, what should I do to be saved?
Tags: salvation
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
March 28th, 2009
From Publishers Weekly
Hitchens, an avowed atheist and author of the bestseller God Is Not Great, is a formidable intellectual who finds the notion of belief in God to be utter nonsense. The author is clear in his introduction that religion has caused more than its fair share of world problems. “Religion invents a problem where none exists by describing the wicked as also made in the image of god and the sexually nonconformist as existing in a state of incurable mortal sin that ca (more…)
Tags: Atheist, Essential, Portable, Readings, the
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
March 28th, 2009
I am no longer a Christian because…
What loving God could inspire the Psalmist to say: “Blessed is the one who grabs your little children and smashes them against a rock”? Psalm 137:9 I have heard a ton of explanations of this verse, but the most popular is the one which says that this refers to the negative passions and thoughts inside us. And the rock is the Christ against whom all the sinful thought must be mercilessly smashed. Well, even if it were so, what about the thousands of the Jews that had sung this Psalm again and again, generation after generation during their religious festivals? I very much doubt that they had any idea this had a symbolic meaning. They took it quite literally. I don’t know if any infants actually suffered at the hands of religious zealots, but the blessing to do so is there, in black and white.
By the way, here is link to a discussion where you get a typical Christian answer to the question about this verse. -
http://www.monachos.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-5793.html
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
March 27th, 2009
Did Jesus have a sinful nature? The majority of Christians today are taught and believe that all humans inherit a sinful nature through the process of conception and that is transmitted through the father. That is why it was necessary for Christ to be born of a virgin - Saint Mary. In this way, it is claimed, Jesus came into this world without the sinful nature and so he could not sin. Now the question is this - if he could not sin why was he tempted in the desert by the devil? Remember the story of the long 40 day fasting in the desert at the end of which the devil approached Jesus and said:”If you are the son of God, why don’t you turn these stones into bread?”, and so on. If Jesus did not have the sinful nature and therefore could not sin, why was he even approached by the Tempter?
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. Instead, we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet he never sinned.” Hebrews 4:15
In this verse of the New Testament it says that Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses and that he had was tempted just as we are though he never sinned. In other words, he knows exactly what we are going through in this life because he experienced all these things apart from the experience of sin. Jee, I have no idea what this means! How is it possible to be tempted by something and at the same time be clean inside? If I am tempted to commit adultery with a slightly plump brunette (I have a weakness for pleasantly plump brunettes) but I find the inner strength not to do it, how am I different from the rest of men? Didn’t Jesus himself say that whoever looks at a woman with a horny eye already commits adultery? I am sure that the next time I see the brunette I won’t find enough strength in me to say ‘no’. I am just as sure that had Jesus lived long enough on the Earth, he wouldn’t have pulled it either. No offense, but the idea that Jesus didn’t have a sinful nature but was tempted in the same way as we are is a major oxymoron.
Tags: high priest, sinful nature
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
March 26th, 2009
I am no longer a Christian because…
nobody can answer this question - Which version of me is going to be saved? Is it going to be the version of me when I am 10 years old and believing in the good Jesus? Or when I am 25 years old and looking at porn magazines? Or 85 years old and peeing in my own bed and have no clue as to who I am, who the people are that change my sheets and give me pills, let alone who that guy Jesus is ? Nobody can give a good answer to this. And you know why? Because we all live under the illusion that we have this eternal immutable soul that never gets old. This is nonsense. Yesterday I liked blondes but today I like brunettes. Yesterday I believed in Jesus and wanted to, so to speak, “follow him” but today I have absolutely no interest in this…
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
