For several years I made the effort to go to church on Sundays. When that church wasn't making sense, I tried several more churches. In the end, none of them made any more sense than the others.
I could have switched from Christianity to another religion. There are plenty available but after giving it some thought, I decided to just stay home on Sundays and enjoy my secular life. I am no less moral but I am a lot happier.
It is snowing just a bit but it isn't sticking. We are right at freezing but the temp should go up a bit as the day goes on.
I brought a wheel barrow load of wood in early, on my way back in from feeding the goats and the horse.
I haven't felt really well for several days but I can't really say I am sick either. I think I am fighting off the flu but, who knows? Maybe it is just the mid winter blahs:)
I have been using the hedge trimmer to cut down spindle bushes [official name Purple Smoke bushes]. They are nothing like Purple Smoke Trees. These are odd spindly desert plants that have purple blooms on them in the late spring.
I also like to lop of the dead rice grass so that the new growth in the spring can take off. Grasses appreciate a hair cut and at least with the bunch grasses you can do that once a year during the winter time. Not like a lawn where you have to get out the mower every week.
Looks like I need to bake bread today. I'm going to try a little less salt and see if the bread will rise a bit faster.
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Notable Quotable
“Disingenuous Heteronyms.
This is from Al Stefanalli who has a blog http://freethoughtblogs.com/alstefanelli/
through the Bruce Gerencser blog http://fallenfromgrace.net/
I have been thinking about word games today. Here it is, something that tends to bother me, explained in a clear cut way. Thanks Al for helping realize that I am not, I repeat, not dense and that people really are using disingenuous word techniques to confuse the issues. The rest of the article was great as well.
Al writes-
Believers, particularly Christians, are fond of using what I like to call “Disingenuous Heteronyms.” A heteronym is a is a word that has equal spelling and pronunciation, but has different meanings. The word “lick” is an example. You can lick an ice cream cone, and you can lick someone in a fight. A disingenuous heteronym is word that has equal spelling and pronunciation, but a meaning is attached to it that does not follow the standards by which definitions are arrived.
Here is a link to the article: http://freethoughtblogs.com/alstefanelli/2012/03/05/again-for-the-willfully-ignorant-atheism-is-not-a-religon/
Sometimes I stumble when dealing with folks like this buy now I have a name for it - disingenous heteronyms. I am going to have to use it soon, I am sure of it.
This is from Al Stefanalli who has a blog http://freethoughtblogs.com/alstefanelli/
through the Bruce Gerencser blog http://fallenfromgrace.net/
I have been thinking about word games today. Here it is, something that tends to bother me, explained in a clear cut way. Thanks Al for helping realize that I am not, I repeat, not dense and that people really are using disingenuous word techniques to confuse the issues. The rest of the article was great as well.
Al writes-
Believers, particularly Christians, are fond of using what I like to call “Disingenuous Heteronyms.” A heteronym is a is a word that has equal spelling and pronunciation, but has different meanings. The word “lick” is an example. You can lick an ice cream cone, and you can lick someone in a fight. A disingenuous heteronym is word that has equal spelling and pronunciation, but a meaning is attached to it that does not follow the standards by which definitions are arrived.
Here is a link to the article: http://freethoughtblogs.com/alstefanelli/2012/03/05/again-for-the-willfully-ignorant-atheism-is-not-a-religon/
Sometimes I stumble when dealing with folks like this buy now I have a name for it - disingenous heteronyms. I am going to have to use it soon, I am sure of it.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Book Review
When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity in the Last Days of Rome.
Author: Richard E. Rubenstein 267 pages
I am well on my way to finishing this book. A great read that gives a lot of details about the lives and battles of the Roman Emperors, Caesars and such along with a whole lot of history of the early church. So far the book has really concentrated on the 300's or the Fourth Century.
It is quite apparent that the Christians have had substantial arguments about the Christ figure and have never gotten along. When Constantine got involved, the differing opinions about the godness of Jesus were brought into the political arena as Constantine tried to get the differing factions on the same page. He wanted to unite his empire by using religion. He may have been quite sincere in his belief in Christianity, as well.
The story is very complicated. The Nicene Creed was being developed. The anti-Arians described god as "the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, tha is, from the ousia of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, homoousios with the Father, through Whom all things came into being." [page 82]
Frankly, it all sounds like gibberish go me:) Fortunately, the book does a great job of explaining what the controversy was about. The Arians were thinking that Jesus was a man that became God through his life's work, the anti-Arians thought that Jesus was God even though he was a man. After all, who would want to worship a man, even a great man like Jesus. Nope, Jesus was God but he was God in human form.
There were lots of opinions floating around and some of them felt that Jesus was a demi-god since he was born of a virgin impregnated by God. Others thought that Jesus might be ranked as an angel. This was totally unacceptable to those who worshiped Jesus as God.
In my opinion, no one has ever come up with a theological theory that actually makes sense on this issue so there has been a huge reliance on the mystery of God.
I'm on page 197 and so I have a bit more reading to do but if you want to understand more about late Roman history and the early chapters of the Christian story, this is certainly a book you will want to read.
Author: Richard E. Rubenstein 267 pages
I am well on my way to finishing this book. A great read that gives a lot of details about the lives and battles of the Roman Emperors, Caesars and such along with a whole lot of history of the early church. So far the book has really concentrated on the 300's or the Fourth Century.
It is quite apparent that the Christians have had substantial arguments about the Christ figure and have never gotten along. When Constantine got involved, the differing opinions about the godness of Jesus were brought into the political arena as Constantine tried to get the differing factions on the same page. He wanted to unite his empire by using religion. He may have been quite sincere in his belief in Christianity, as well.
The story is very complicated. The Nicene Creed was being developed. The anti-Arians described god as "the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, tha is, from the ousia of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, homoousios with the Father, through Whom all things came into being." [page 82]
Frankly, it all sounds like gibberish go me:) Fortunately, the book does a great job of explaining what the controversy was about. The Arians were thinking that Jesus was a man that became God through his life's work, the anti-Arians thought that Jesus was God even though he was a man. After all, who would want to worship a man, even a great man like Jesus. Nope, Jesus was God but he was God in human form.
There were lots of opinions floating around and some of them felt that Jesus was a demi-god since he was born of a virgin impregnated by God. Others thought that Jesus might be ranked as an angel. This was totally unacceptable to those who worshiped Jesus as God.
In my opinion, no one has ever come up with a theological theory that actually makes sense on this issue so there has been a huge reliance on the mystery of God.
I'm on page 197 and so I have a bit more reading to do but if you want to understand more about late Roman history and the early chapters of the Christian story, this is certainly a book you will want to read.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Notable Quotable
We are intelligent because it allows us to be able to adapt better to our environment and thrive. However, our ability to reason should not be taken as a reasonable proof of a god. To me, it is all just a happy happenstance. Besides, when we take into consideration just how screwed-up and thrown together our own bodies are, it is quite hard to claim an "intelligent designer" when a 5 year old with Legos can make something with more design sense. There is nothing intelligent about how we are put together. We are cobbled together by evolution into something "close enough for government work" to pass on DNA. Else why would we worry about choking on cornbread?
Religion is a safety blanket. As much as I dislike religion, I will not begrudge someone their safety blanket....until they try to smother me with it or start haranguing me for not having one.
Discordia commented on exC
http://new.exchristian.net/2011/12/scientist-goes-beyond-evidence.html#comment-383238582
Religion is a safety blanket. As much as I dislike religion, I will not begrudge someone their safety blanket....until they try to smother me with it or start haranguing me for not having one.
Discordia commented on exC
http://new.exchristian.net/2011/12/scientist-goes-beyond-evidence.html#comment-383238582
Friday, December 2, 2011
Sophisticated Theology
Someone on another website has informed several commenters that they don't understand sophisticated theology. I am trying to wrap my mind around what that could possibly mean. What the heck IS "sophisticated theology"?
I looked up sophisticated and it means experienced in worldly ways, changed from the natural simplicity or frankness.
Theology, of course, relates to the study of God and His relations with man and the universe or the study or system of religious beliefs.
So, since Biblegod has explicitly said in the Bible that the world is no good, how is it that we can have a theology based on being experienced in worldly ways? How is the average person supposed to know god if god is transformed from natural simplicity into complicated systems of religious belief?
Why would you want to create a sophisticated theology? Why wouldn't God [and in this case we are really speaking of Biblegod] be frank and filled with natural simplicity? If the universe speaks of His glory, why are people coming up with all this convoluted, fancy pants stuff to show that He exists? Why is it that they don't admit they can't prove a Biblegod but only that there is possibly some sort of god? And a pretty vague sort of god at that! Something must have started the universe or look at nature, there must be a god is a pretty wimpy argument for god!
Honestly, the comments back were pretty peeved at this concept of sophisticated theology but why wouldn't they be? Like so many people, the original commenter who stated no one understood sophisticated theology would not or could not explain himself. I think what happens is that people presume that there is a god due to their culture and then think they can back that up with no evidence what so ever.
The commenter may have meant well or he may just be a blow hard [I'll take b] but ... I don't think he has thought through what he was saying, he knows it, so he blows up and says everyone in rude and picking on him. Well, that just doesn't cut the mustard. Biblegod has been proven to be a myth so show some evidence or go home.
I looked up sophisticated and it means experienced in worldly ways, changed from the natural simplicity or frankness.
Theology, of course, relates to the study of God and His relations with man and the universe or the study or system of religious beliefs.
So, since Biblegod has explicitly said in the Bible that the world is no good, how is it that we can have a theology based on being experienced in worldly ways? How is the average person supposed to know god if god is transformed from natural simplicity into complicated systems of religious belief?
Why would you want to create a sophisticated theology? Why wouldn't God [and in this case we are really speaking of Biblegod] be frank and filled with natural simplicity? If the universe speaks of His glory, why are people coming up with all this convoluted, fancy pants stuff to show that He exists? Why is it that they don't admit they can't prove a Biblegod but only that there is possibly some sort of god? And a pretty vague sort of god at that! Something must have started the universe or look at nature, there must be a god is a pretty wimpy argument for god!
Honestly, the comments back were pretty peeved at this concept of sophisticated theology but why wouldn't they be? Like so many people, the original commenter who stated no one understood sophisticated theology would not or could not explain himself. I think what happens is that people presume that there is a god due to their culture and then think they can back that up with no evidence what so ever.
The commenter may have meant well or he may just be a blow hard [I'll take b] but ... I don't think he has thought through what he was saying, he knows it, so he blows up and says everyone in rude and picking on him. Well, that just doesn't cut the mustard. Biblegod has been proven to be a myth so show some evidence or go home.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Child Abuse in the Name of God
So, this post wasn't really complete when I grabbed this from exC. What is the same here that is the same for all of us abused people is that we have the ability to understand the hurt person inside us and to take better care of ourselves. This person was horribly abused in the name of Biblegod. So are thousands of others. Whether there was a lot of abuse or a little, what kind of god allows for children to be abused in His name? That is a god not worthy of worship.
There are also plenty of women and some men who are abused due to the teachings of the Bible. That is what this conversation made me think of. Keep plugging. Keep learning. Love yourself. You did not deserve to be abused. It is especially heinous when abuse occurs in the name of Biblegod.
L
You got that wrong, Sonof. This is something I had to take to heart about myself. Five year olds cannot take care of themselves. They are children. Five year olds and even fifteen year olds are not capable of taking on the world by themselves.
I started thinking about how innocent and vulnerable children, including myself, really are. I was a kid. doing the best I could with what I knew. What you know isn't very much when you are a kid. That five year old you are calling names was really a sweet kid that deserved hugs and love and certainly couldn't have made it out in the big world all by himself.
Why don't you have a talk with that kid inside you and tell him you will do your best to not allow him to be hurt anymore. You are the grown up and you will make sure of that.
S
That may be true where you are but here in New Zealand it is up to the child to escape an abusive family, the child is also expected to be independent should they escape. In fact in New Zealand we reward child abuses and threaten the abused, its who we are as a nation. And I am learning to accept that, it is my fault for not looking out for myself as a child, plane and simple.
L
Listen up, Sonof:) That is true everywhere that abused people are common. They are often not helped by their society. Who creates abusive people? Abusive societies!
Other people often do not have the insight or the internal fortitude to understand what abused people have gone through. Even in non-abusive societies.That does not negate what I said. You will have to be your own good parent even though it is hard work. Children are innocent and vulnerable. They need love and protection.
W
Dude, that was profound.
And it's true, it's hard to grok what survivors have been through if you haven't been there yourself. I used to be one of those people, the ones who said, "Well, why doesn't she just walk away?" Now? Well... now I know, the hard way, just how difficult it really is to "just walk away" from an abuser. And the worst part? The worst part is that half of what's keeping you stuck is all in your head -- because you've had it pounded into you (sometimes literally!) that you are worthless, you'll never survive without [abuser], that [abuser] knows what's best for you, that your abuser can/will harm you/your family/your kids/your pet... and fear and paranoia, "What if?" On top of that, for me, was a heaping helping of "nobody will believe me." (And it really didn't help that the police continually treated me like I was "just an hysterical woman" and basically told me that if I'd calm down, he wouldn't get upset and hit me. What a load of shit.)
So... yeah, I've had to re-learn a lot, especially re-learning how to love myself, and see myself as worthy. I know I'm a bitch -- had that pounded into me, too -- but I'm starting to think that maybe "being a bitch" is some kind of defense-mechanism, pushing people away before they have a chance to hurt me.
Just know that no matter how broken and worthless you feel, you're making a difference to at least one person in your life, even if you don't know it.
L
Thanks for sharing that with me wmdkitty.
"Just know that no matter how broken and worthless you feel, you're making a difference to at least one person in your life, even if you don't know it."
That is what I believe, as well. For instance, Sonof has made a small difference in several people's lives by sharing his story here on exC. It allowed several other commenters to tell their story in their comments. Now, that may not seem like much but people need to tell their stories in order to move forwards. Each of us is growing a little bit by reading about other people's experiences. Each one of us is quite unable to save the world but by being here in this world and being aware and insightful to what abuse is, well, we are making a small difference. Society is made up of the little people like us. Small influences make a difference
PS - When we change the world changes. The positive changes we make help ourselves so much and that is a very good thing. We deserve our own time and effort and we are worth it.
I don't want to minimize anyone's journey. It is hard to move forward from abuse! Yet, thousands have done so and you can, too.
There are also plenty of women and some men who are abused due to the teachings of the Bible. That is what this conversation made me think of. Keep plugging. Keep learning. Love yourself. You did not deserve to be abused. It is especially heinous when abuse occurs in the name of Biblegod.
L
You got that wrong, Sonof. This is something I had to take to heart about myself. Five year olds cannot take care of themselves. They are children. Five year olds and even fifteen year olds are not capable of taking on the world by themselves.
I started thinking about how innocent and vulnerable children, including myself, really are. I was a kid. doing the best I could with what I knew. What you know isn't very much when you are a kid. That five year old you are calling names was really a sweet kid that deserved hugs and love and certainly couldn't have made it out in the big world all by himself.
Why don't you have a talk with that kid inside you and tell him you will do your best to not allow him to be hurt anymore. You are the grown up and you will make sure of that.
S
That may be true where you are but here in New Zealand it is up to the child to escape an abusive family, the child is also expected to be independent should they escape. In fact in New Zealand we reward child abuses and threaten the abused, its who we are as a nation. And I am learning to accept that, it is my fault for not looking out for myself as a child, plane and simple.
L
Listen up, Sonof:) That is true everywhere that abused people are common. They are often not helped by their society. Who creates abusive people? Abusive societies!
Other people often do not have the insight or the internal fortitude to understand what abused people have gone through. Even in non-abusive societies.That does not negate what I said. You will have to be your own good parent even though it is hard work. Children are innocent and vulnerable. They need love and protection.
W
Dude, that was profound.
And it's true, it's hard to grok what survivors have been through if you haven't been there yourself. I used to be one of those people, the ones who said, "Well, why doesn't she just walk away?" Now? Well... now I know, the hard way, just how difficult it really is to "just walk away" from an abuser. And the worst part? The worst part is that half of what's keeping you stuck is all in your head -- because you've had it pounded into you (sometimes literally!) that you are worthless, you'll never survive without [abuser], that [abuser] knows what's best for you, that your abuser can/will harm you/your family/your kids/your pet... and fear and paranoia, "What if?" On top of that, for me, was a heaping helping of "nobody will believe me." (And it really didn't help that the police continually treated me like I was "just an hysterical woman" and basically told me that if I'd calm down, he wouldn't get upset and hit me. What a load of shit.)
So... yeah, I've had to re-learn a lot, especially re-learning how to love myself, and see myself as worthy. I know I'm a bitch -- had that pounded into me, too -- but I'm starting to think that maybe "being a bitch" is some kind of defense-mechanism, pushing people away before they have a chance to hurt me.
Just know that no matter how broken and worthless you feel, you're making a difference to at least one person in your life, even if you don't know it.
L
Thanks for sharing that with me wmdkitty.
"Just know that no matter how broken and worthless you feel, you're making a difference to at least one person in your life, even if you don't know it."
That is what I believe, as well. For instance, Sonof has made a small difference in several people's lives by sharing his story here on exC. It allowed several other commenters to tell their story in their comments. Now, that may not seem like much but people need to tell their stories in order to move forwards. Each of us is growing a little bit by reading about other people's experiences. Each one of us is quite unable to save the world but by being here in this world and being aware and insightful to what abuse is, well, we are making a small difference. Society is made up of the little people like us. Small influences make a difference
PS - When we change the world changes. The positive changes we make help ourselves so much and that is a very good thing. We deserve our own time and effort and we are worth it.
I don't want to minimize anyone's journey. It is hard to move forward from abuse! Yet, thousands have done so and you can, too.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Notable Quotable
On Debunking Christianity
All religions have the same faith-based foundation. When faith is a foundation anything can be believed. --John W. Loftus
Me:
Faith is the foundation and fear is the stick in Christianity. It is true, however, that with faith anything can be believed. One can look forward to any sort of an afterlife. 72 virgins? Streets paved in gold? Life in other dimensions? Gods and goddesses of their own worlds? Xenu will welcome you in person? The list goes on and on.
What will you do for your faith? Murder an abortion doctor? Fly into a building filled with unbelievers? Enslave a population? Torture heretics? Burn the unrighteous at the stake? Go to war for god?Faith is the path to blindness. Reason is a reality check. This world could use more reality checks and a lot less faith.
All religions have the same faith-based foundation. When faith is a foundation anything can be believed. --John W. Loftus
Me:
Faith is the foundation and fear is the stick in Christianity. It is true, however, that with faith anything can be believed. One can look forward to any sort of an afterlife. 72 virgins? Streets paved in gold? Life in other dimensions? Gods and goddesses of their own worlds? Xenu will welcome you in person? The list goes on and on.
What will you do for your faith? Murder an abortion doctor? Fly into a building filled with unbelievers? Enslave a population? Torture heretics? Burn the unrighteous at the stake? Go to war for god?Faith is the path to blindness. Reason is a reality check. This world could use more reality checks and a lot less faith.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Notable Quotable
Expenty says on exChristian.net
Interesting concept. God cannot sin, can It? We can sin. We have a power that God doesn't. Maybe God is jealous? Or maybe a dyslexic dog trying to krab?
Interesting concept. God cannot sin, can It? We can sin. We have a power that God doesn't. Maybe God is jealous? Or maybe a dyslexic dog trying to krab?
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Gospels - The Ever Changing Word of God
http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2011/06/quick-view-to-evolution-of-trinity.html#disqus_thread
This article drives home the issue of changes in the gospel accounts. The gospels, which were not contemporaneous to the "Jesus era", were then fiddled around with, little changes, big changes, additions and omissions. Over the years, the centuries of changes, any semblance original intent or content has been lost. Most probably burned by the winners who left no heretic unscathed in their zeal to promote themselves to all-knowing persons of the one all-knowing god that you had better worship or else.
The Trinity has always been a strange concept that has led to this: God sent Himself to appease Himself by killing His Son who is Himself as a sacrifice to Himself so that God could correct His mistake of putting a tree in the Garden of Eden and not putting a guard there to turn away poor innocent Adam and Eve. The whole story is dumb. God should be apologizing to us for being such a bad parent
This article drives home the issue of changes in the gospel accounts. The gospels, which were not contemporaneous to the "Jesus era", were then fiddled around with, little changes, big changes, additions and omissions. Over the years, the centuries of changes, any semblance original intent or content has been lost. Most probably burned by the winners who left no heretic unscathed in their zeal to promote themselves to all-knowing persons of the one all-knowing god that you had better worship or else.
The Trinity has always been a strange concept that has led to this: God sent Himself to appease Himself by killing His Son who is Himself as a sacrifice to Himself so that God could correct His mistake of putting a tree in the Garden of Eden and not putting a guard there to turn away poor innocent Adam and Eve. The whole story is dumb. God should be apologizing to us for being such a bad parent
Hell - Reviled
By Renoliz ~
Idid a couple of articles on the concept of Christian hell awhile back: "Hell - Revisited" and "Hell- Roots" and I said I wanted to do an article on why hell is such an abusive concept. Dr. Marlene Winell recently sent in a video where she discussed that Armageddon and the Rapture are terrorism. And they are. So is the concept of hell.
In the article Hell – Roots I said:
I stand by those words. Christianity is essentially a death cult. Christianity is a cult that glorifies human sacrifice. Christianity is a cult that focuses on the negative attributes of humans and forces reliance on invisible, imagined forces to mold us and our lives. Those invisible, imagined forces include Biblegodand Satan, hosts of angels and leagues of demons, holy spirits that must not be blasphemed and dark forces that pursue us.
The concept of eternal hell is irresponsible and immoral. It is just plain harmful to children and the adults they turn into. There is no evidence for an actual place of hell nor is there any evidence for its opposite, heaven. We have learned that under the earth are rocks, dirt and molten lava. There is no chamber where souls go to be tortured night and day for ever and ever. In the skies above there is only the planets, star and a whole host of amazing phenomenon like quasars, black holes, galaxies filled with stars with, presumably, planets orbiting many of those stars. No heaven with a god on a white throne.
The Earth we live on and the Universe that we inhabit are truly marvels; as are the multitudes of life forms that inhabit our tiny speck in our galaxy that is one of many, many other galaxies. That there is life on this planet and that life includes humans who can do the math and ascertain what the planet and the universe is made of is truly one of the wonders of all time. There has been a price to pay for all this knowledge…the death of our personal gods. It is clear that there is no man hanging around above the clouds looking down on us in wrath or love. It is clear that there is no heaven to go to once we are dead. It has become clear there is no hell beneath our feet to be sentenced to upon our passing. The Age of Reason is upon us.
Yet, Christendom continues to abuse their fellow human beings with psychological torture. Christendom continues to terrify minds with gruesomely graphic descriptions of worms that never die, somehow eating your flesh throughout all of eternity. This is despite the fact that your actual body rotted soon after your death. With wild tales of gruesomely graphic descriptions of the tortures that that await your dead personage throughout time, year after year after thousands, millions, even billions of years.
If they can’t bring themselves to believe in eternal hell in a physical sense then they tell you that it is separation from god and it hurts soooo bad to be separated from god it is torture, true pain. Think about it, you are already separated from god because of sin and yet, you are not tortured by that separation. This is certainly a silly superstition that is made up as they go. They haven’t thought that one through. Many Christian cults add on extra frills like if you are Mormon you won’t get to be a god or goddess and own your own planet. Or if you are a Jehovah’s Witness and you don’t believe in their version of Christianity you’ll be sentenced to go through planetary Armageddon before god passes sentence on you and you are annihilated. If you are a fundamentalist Baptist you believe that your friends and relatives who don’t believe correctly are going to be sentenced to the Apocalypse after you have blissfully floated away on a cloud. Catholics believe in purgatory.
If you have a fear of hell, step away from it. [...] Stay in your reasoning place. Realize that the trauma is very real. Realize as well that thousands of people have stepped away from Christianity and the inane, manipulative, brain washing theme of hell and Armageddon and being raptured and all of that ridiculous superstitious hogwash. And those people, almost to a person, will tell you that it was worth the pain and the effort to find the truth and live with reality.All of them are using psychological weaponry to maintain your membership loyalty. It is no longer justifiable. If parents were telling children that if they don’t believe in a giant spider in the moon that they will be beaten to a pulp by Spider-man after they died and then all the spider demons were going to suck them dry over and over and over again for six thousand years before the Tarantula god made his final decision about your destiny we would call child protective services. But it is still okay to tell children that they will meet a gory and horrifying end after they die if they don’t serve an invisible man in the sky called Yahweh. Disgusting!
Any group that uses threats of violence and psychological manipulation to maintain its structure is a destructive cult. Give your church the cult test. I bet you find quite a few characteristics in common with cults like the Hare Krishnas or the Moonies or Scientologists. If you step away from your comfort zone for a moment you will notice the stories in the Bible are every bit as absurd as the Hindu Vedas and any other myths Christians point to as being absurd myths. You don’t believe any their creation stories but yours makes sense. You don’t believe in their gods but yours make sense. You don’t believe in their versions of a bad afterlife but yours is real. Think about it.
If you have a fear of hell, step away from it. Carl Sagan was right about reason being a candle in the darkness of superstition
. Stay in your reasoning place. Realize that the trauma is very real. Realize as well that thousands of people have stepped away from Christianity and the inane, manipulative, brain washing theme of hell and Armageddon and being raptured and all of that ridiculous superstitious hogwash. And those people, almost to a person, will tell you that it was worth the pain and the effort to find the truth and live with reality. Yes, the fear of hell is very terrifying but there is nothing real there. It is all smoke and mirrors; an illusion created by humans that want and need to control others.
Sin was created by mankind to allow leaders to manipulate followers and when that didn’t seem like enough then hell was created my leaders to frighten followers into giving their time, talents, money and loyalty to their god. There is no sin. There are only the actions that are bad perpetrated by humans. Societies around the world have done better by almost any standard you can name when they have thrown the Bible into the trash heap where it belongs.
One last word on religion and liberal Christianity and its attempts to tone down hell. The problem, as I see it, is that Christianity lite still encourages people to believe in invisible, imaginary beings that have an influence on this world and our lives. That isn’t actually true according to studies on prayer or studies on people who visit Lourdes or in the reality we see when we are in churches. God does not aid us or make our lives better or give us a miracle. Liberal Christianity encourages faith. Christian faith means believing without evidence or even contrary to the evidence. This will always give a platform for more extreme believers to jump off from. There is no evidence for Christ. There really isn’t any evidence for god; certainly it can easily be shown that Biblegod is a creation of priests who wanted control and primitive tribesmen who lived in a very small part of the world. There is no basis for Christian beliefs. Let reason and decency and truth reign in your life not primitive superstitions and imagined communications with spirit beings.
In the article Hell – Roots I said:
My beef is with the Christians who use eternal Hell- this irresponsible and immoral concept – and use it to great effect. Christians who do not believe in Hell are sent packing. They are scorned by most Christians. Most of Christianity wants Hell as a doctrine. They can’t give it up. It is a tool of control; a weapon to keep those who join the Church from leaving; a motivator to get the sheeples to do as the pastor/preacher/minister/priest desires. I have no doubt that there are sincere Christians but I also have no doubt that Hell is a baseball bat aimed at the knee caps of anyone who would dare walk away. It is this concept of Hell that makes so much of Christianity adestructive cult. And it is this concept of Hell that makes so much of Christianity an abusive cult. That is what I want to talk about the next time we meet on the topic of eternal Hell.
I stand by those words. Christianity is essentially a death cult. Christianity is a cult that glorifies human sacrifice. Christianity is a cult that focuses on the negative attributes of humans and forces reliance on invisible, imagined forces to mold us and our lives. Those invisible, imagined forces include Biblegodand Satan, hosts of angels and leagues of demons, holy spirits that must not be blasphemed and dark forces that pursue us.
The concept of eternal hell is irresponsible and immoral. It is just plain harmful to children and the adults they turn into. There is no evidence for an actual place of hell nor is there any evidence for its opposite, heaven. We have learned that under the earth are rocks, dirt and molten lava. There is no chamber where souls go to be tortured night and day for ever and ever. In the skies above there is only the planets, star and a whole host of amazing phenomenon like quasars, black holes, galaxies filled with stars with, presumably, planets orbiting many of those stars. No heaven with a god on a white throne.
The Earth we live on and the Universe that we inhabit are truly marvels; as are the multitudes of life forms that inhabit our tiny speck in our galaxy that is one of many, many other galaxies. That there is life on this planet and that life includes humans who can do the math and ascertain what the planet and the universe is made of is truly one of the wonders of all time. There has been a price to pay for all this knowledge…the death of our personal gods. It is clear that there is no man hanging around above the clouds looking down on us in wrath or love. It is clear that there is no heaven to go to once we are dead. It has become clear there is no hell beneath our feet to be sentenced to upon our passing. The Age of Reason is upon us.
Yet, Christendom continues to abuse their fellow human beings with psychological torture. Christendom continues to terrify minds with gruesomely graphic descriptions of worms that never die, somehow eating your flesh throughout all of eternity. This is despite the fact that your actual body rotted soon after your death. With wild tales of gruesomely graphic descriptions of the tortures that that await your dead personage throughout time, year after year after thousands, millions, even billions of years.
If they can’t bring themselves to believe in eternal hell in a physical sense then they tell you that it is separation from god and it hurts soooo bad to be separated from god it is torture, true pain. Think about it, you are already separated from god because of sin and yet, you are not tortured by that separation. This is certainly a silly superstition that is made up as they go. They haven’t thought that one through. Many Christian cults add on extra frills like if you are Mormon you won’t get to be a god or goddess and own your own planet. Or if you are a Jehovah’s Witness and you don’t believe in their version of Christianity you’ll be sentenced to go through planetary Armageddon before god passes sentence on you and you are annihilated. If you are a fundamentalist Baptist you believe that your friends and relatives who don’t believe correctly are going to be sentenced to the Apocalypse after you have blissfully floated away on a cloud. Catholics believe in purgatory.
If you have a fear of hell, step away from it. [...] Stay in your reasoning place. Realize that the trauma is very real. Realize as well that thousands of people have stepped away from Christianity and the inane, manipulative, brain washing theme of hell and Armageddon and being raptured and all of that ridiculous superstitious hogwash. And those people, almost to a person, will tell you that it was worth the pain and the effort to find the truth and live with reality.All of them are using psychological weaponry to maintain your membership loyalty. It is no longer justifiable. If parents were telling children that if they don’t believe in a giant spider in the moon that they will be beaten to a pulp by Spider-man after they died and then all the spider demons were going to suck them dry over and over and over again for six thousand years before the Tarantula god made his final decision about your destiny we would call child protective services. But it is still okay to tell children that they will meet a gory and horrifying end after they die if they don’t serve an invisible man in the sky called Yahweh. Disgusting!
Any group that uses threats of violence and psychological manipulation to maintain its structure is a destructive cult. Give your church the cult test. I bet you find quite a few characteristics in common with cults like the Hare Krishnas or the Moonies or Scientologists. If you step away from your comfort zone for a moment you will notice the stories in the Bible are every bit as absurd as the Hindu Vedas and any other myths Christians point to as being absurd myths. You don’t believe any their creation stories but yours makes sense. You don’t believe in their gods but yours make sense. You don’t believe in their versions of a bad afterlife but yours is real. Think about it.
If you have a fear of hell, step away from it. Carl Sagan was right about reason being a candle in the darkness of superstition
. Stay in your reasoning place. Realize that the trauma is very real. Realize as well that thousands of people have stepped away from Christianity and the inane, manipulative, brain washing theme of hell and Armageddon and being raptured and all of that ridiculous superstitious hogwash. And those people, almost to a person, will tell you that it was worth the pain and the effort to find the truth and live with reality. Yes, the fear of hell is very terrifying but there is nothing real there. It is all smoke and mirrors; an illusion created by humans that want and need to control others.Sin was created by mankind to allow leaders to manipulate followers and when that didn’t seem like enough then hell was created my leaders to frighten followers into giving their time, talents, money and loyalty to their god. There is no sin. There are only the actions that are bad perpetrated by humans. Societies around the world have done better by almost any standard you can name when they have thrown the Bible into the trash heap where it belongs.
One last word on religion and liberal Christianity and its attempts to tone down hell. The problem, as I see it, is that Christianity lite still encourages people to believe in invisible, imaginary beings that have an influence on this world and our lives. That isn’t actually true according to studies on prayer or studies on people who visit Lourdes or in the reality we see when we are in churches. God does not aid us or make our lives better or give us a miracle. Liberal Christianity encourages faith. Christian faith means believing without evidence or even contrary to the evidence. This will always give a platform for more extreme believers to jump off from. There is no evidence for Christ. There really isn’t any evidence for god; certainly it can easily be shown that Biblegod is a creation of priests who wanted control and primitive tribesmen who lived in a very small part of the world. There is no basis for Christian beliefs. Let reason and decency and truth reign in your life not primitive superstitions and imagined communications with spirit beings.
Worthless Kotex
As soon as I saw the title, the scene at our dining room table came rushing back to me. We had been taking a Bible study course with Brother SweetOldGuy. His wife never came to these meetings because she was busy at the Seventh Day Adventist church. I heard before that it was the speaking in tongues church near the four way stop.
Anyway, the Bible studies were cruising right along in their confusing way. More than once Hubby and I talked and said "Did you get what Brother SweetOldGuy got out of that verse?" It was like the words were there but the meaning was completely different from the words on the page. Again, I digress.
So, Brother SweetOldGuy says of that verse:
Your sins are as filthy rags. What is really means is your sins are like dirty Kotex in God's eyes. Of course I don't say that to the kids at Sunday school. I like to tell the kids in Sunday school class your sins are like a dirty bandage that has been sitting on your oozing cut finger. If you peeled that dirty bandage off your yucky cut finger that is oozing would you want to look at that? They always say "Ooh, Ick, Mr. SweetOldGuy."
But what it really means is that your works, all of your works, including any good works you do are like dirty, used Kotex. Nothing, absolutely nothing we do is good to god because we are so tainted with sin. So, when you get saved god is then able to look at you. Through the lens that is the blood of Jesus. Imagine that! The blood of Jesus washes you as white as snow.
Is that send him off to the looney bin crazy? What a load of hoo-haw. Christians, especially Pastors and apologists, really do make this stuff up as they go and then they present these insights as facts and their followers then present them as facts.
But the saddest part is, just as you said EveneingMeadows, the saddest part is that we sit there and let people tell us we are used Kotex without protest. We allow these "experts" to say that we are so worthless God can't even look at us and that is because we deserve it. We were born as crap, worthless sinners in need of saving. Oh no, there is nothing you can do for yourself. You need Jesus to help you.
The messages of the church are incredibly negative and misogynistic and designed to keep you helpless. Thanks for the story. It really did remind me of what church was really about.
Anyway, the Bible studies were cruising right along in their confusing way. More than once Hubby and I talked and said "Did you get what Brother SweetOldGuy got out of that verse?" It was like the words were there but the meaning was completely different from the words on the page. Again, I digress.
So, Brother SweetOldGuy says of that verse:
Your sins are as filthy rags. What is really means is your sins are like dirty Kotex in God's eyes. Of course I don't say that to the kids at Sunday school. I like to tell the kids in Sunday school class your sins are like a dirty bandage that has been sitting on your oozing cut finger. If you peeled that dirty bandage off your yucky cut finger that is oozing would you want to look at that? They always say "Ooh, Ick, Mr. SweetOldGuy."
But what it really means is that your works, all of your works, including any good works you do are like dirty, used Kotex. Nothing, absolutely nothing we do is good to god because we are so tainted with sin. So, when you get saved god is then able to look at you. Through the lens that is the blood of Jesus. Imagine that! The blood of Jesus washes you as white as snow.
Is that send him off to the looney bin crazy? What a load of hoo-haw. Christians, especially Pastors and apologists, really do make this stuff up as they go and then they present these insights as facts and their followers then present them as facts.
But the saddest part is, just as you said EveneingMeadows, the saddest part is that we sit there and let people tell us we are used Kotex without protest. We allow these "experts" to say that we are so worthless God can't even look at us and that is because we deserve it. We were born as crap, worthless sinners in need of saving. Oh no, there is nothing you can do for yourself. You need Jesus to help you.
The messages of the church are incredibly negative and misogynistic and designed to keep you helpless. Thanks for the story. It really did remind me of what church was really about.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sophisticated Theology
Here is another good one by TGBaker.
Sophisticated Theology: A deception to the church
Jesus was an apocalyptic teacher who was seen to perform miracles. He was elevated in one circle of followers to being virgin born. Paul cast him in an ahistorical Hellenistic Savior myth. Another segment of the movement continued as Jewish followers who expected his return but did not believe in the virgin birth or that Jesus was god or divine. The Jewish Christian traditions about Jesus become elevated with the Johannine Hellenistic Logos Christology.
The Jerusalem Church developed into the Ebionites and continued to wait for Jesus to return in "their lifetime" with the resurrection of all the saints. They did not believe in the virgin birth and saw Jesus as a mortal. The Ebionite movement was wiped out pretty much in the second revolt under Simon ben Kokba. Neo-platonic thought moved another aspect of Jewish thought with the help of the Johannine literature toward Gnosticism and Mystery Cultism( Paul). Logos Christology became predominate in the second century while Paul's writings became old hat. Marcion rejected the Jewish background of god and created the first Christian bible. Other groups of churches reacted against Marcion and Paul's writings came back into popularity as well as the pseudepigraphical ones attributed to Paul and Peter/Jude and John. Various forms of Christianity competed with each other creating more and more writings attributed to the Apostles. The gospels were attributed to Matthew , Mark, Luke and John. Jesus became more and more divine and everybody got together and created a bunch of trinity theories. The politicians won.
Historical researchers in this field generally see Jesus as a wondering Cynic teacher spouting out words of wisdom and folk philosophy. It does seem to be the core of what developed into Christianity and the hypothetical document Q. Jesus was a human who came from Galilee. Galilee was the only area in Palestine that was forcefully converted to Judaism. Even so only 50% of the population was Jewish. Rabbi Hannina ben Dosa and Honi the Circle Drawer were very similar characters to Jesus. Simon ben Dosa called god Abba like Jesus ( meaning Daddy instead of a reverential “father”). He spoke openly with women as Jesus did.
The reason that historians posit these as historical is because they are contrary to the believing Jewish or Christian movement. You can see evidence that the church tried to cover up the fact that Jesus was baptized as others to get rid of sin. Historical Jesus research is a discipline to explain the sociological development of what became Christianity ... what historical kernel was the catalyst for all the mythic construction. It is commonly understood that the bible is mythic in seminaries and theological schools like Princeton, Yale, Emory, Vanderbilt. The bridge from Theological school and seminary to the church and its members is “teach it as truth and avoid the lack of factual basis.” So statements are demythologized and taken into a philosophical meaning rather than a grounded factual historical meaning. Virgin birth does not really mean a women had a child and was a virgin. It becomes a story to honor Jesus as both god and man. So you have pure historical work. Then the theologians that try to make it still meaningful and then the preachers to present it as literal. When I was in seminary my mentor (Hendrikus Boers) who wrote, “Who Was Jesus?” was a Marxist atheist from South Africa. He would point to people like Jurgen Moltmann (theologian) as a fraud that needed to be exposed. Then there is the whole moderate movement that tries to salvage some Christianity out of the historical/critical conclusions. Crossan was on the Jesus Seminar team. He knows Jesus was simply a person who got into trouble and was removed from being an irritation. The people who cared about where Jesus was buried did not know where he was buried. The people who did know where he was buried (communal grave) did not care.
Sophisticated Theology affirms the historical conclusions of historical/critical research as well as science but as with the trend since the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann wish to convert the theological and ethical meaning of the unhistorical scripture into eternal and continued truths for the church. The stories become no more than hyper-fables. And some of their truths are dangerous to our culture.
The Jerusalem Church developed into the Ebionites and continued to wait for Jesus to return in "their lifetime" with the resurrection of all the saints. They did not believe in the virgin birth and saw Jesus as a mortal. The Ebionite movement was wiped out pretty much in the second revolt under Simon ben Kokba. Neo-platonic thought moved another aspect of Jewish thought with the help of the Johannine literature toward Gnosticism and Mystery Cultism( Paul). Logos Christology became predominate in the second century while Paul's writings became old hat. Marcion rejected the Jewish background of god and created the first Christian bible. Other groups of churches reacted against Marcion and Paul's writings came back into popularity as well as the pseudepigraphical ones attributed to Paul and Peter/Jude and John. Various forms of Christianity competed with each other creating more and more writings attributed to the Apostles. The gospels were attributed to Matthew , Mark, Luke and John. Jesus became more and more divine and everybody got together and created a bunch of trinity theories. The politicians won.
Historical researchers in this field generally see Jesus as a wondering Cynic teacher spouting out words of wisdom and folk philosophy. It does seem to be the core of what developed into Christianity and the hypothetical document Q. Jesus was a human who came from Galilee. Galilee was the only area in Palestine that was forcefully converted to Judaism. Even so only 50% of the population was Jewish. Rabbi Hannina ben Dosa and Honi the Circle Drawer were very similar characters to Jesus. Simon ben Dosa called god Abba like Jesus ( meaning Daddy instead of a reverential “father”). He spoke openly with women as Jesus did.
The reason that historians posit these as historical is because they are contrary to the believing Jewish or Christian movement. You can see evidence that the church tried to cover up the fact that Jesus was baptized as others to get rid of sin. Historical Jesus research is a discipline to explain the sociological development of what became Christianity ... what historical kernel was the catalyst for all the mythic construction. It is commonly understood that the bible is mythic in seminaries and theological schools like Princeton, Yale, Emory, Vanderbilt. The bridge from Theological school and seminary to the church and its members is “teach it as truth and avoid the lack of factual basis.” So statements are demythologized and taken into a philosophical meaning rather than a grounded factual historical meaning. Virgin birth does not really mean a women had a child and was a virgin. It becomes a story to honor Jesus as both god and man. So you have pure historical work. Then the theologians that try to make it still meaningful and then the preachers to present it as literal. When I was in seminary my mentor (Hendrikus Boers) who wrote, “Who Was Jesus?” was a Marxist atheist from South Africa. He would point to people like Jurgen Moltmann (theologian) as a fraud that needed to be exposed. Then there is the whole moderate movement that tries to salvage some Christianity out of the historical/critical conclusions. Crossan was on the Jesus Seminar team. He knows Jesus was simply a person who got into trouble and was removed from being an irritation. The people who cared about where Jesus was buried did not know where he was buried. The people who did know where he was buried (communal grave) did not care.
Sophisticated Theology affirms the historical conclusions of historical/critical research as well as science but as with the trend since the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann wish to convert the theological and ethical meaning of the unhistorical scripture into eternal and continued truths for the church. The stories become no more than hyper-fables. And some of their truths are dangerous to our culture.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Hector Avalos
I am finishing the book by Hector Avalos "The End of Biblical Studies" . I like his clear cut writing style coupled with his depth of knowledge and his straight forward approach to Bible studies. The Bible is clearly just another book. It is not inspired by god and should be treated in the same way all other ancient texts should be treated. Thank you for saying that out loud and in public, Mr. Avalos.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Notable Quotable
There is a free book available that discusses why we are not a Christian nation. If you use the link and goto exChristian.net you can down load it. Looks like a fantastic read.
Sgt Justin Griffith, organizer of Rock Beyond Belief ~
http://new.exchristian.net/2011/06/david-bartons-pants-are-on-fire-for.html
The book is written by a gal named Chris Rodda. Here is what she said about giving away the book [which, by the way, you can apparently also buy.] I am planning to purchase the hard copy when I get a chance.
A few hours ago, I was about to sit down at my computer to do my usual thing — write about the Daily Show interview, and debunk the specific lies that Barton was able to get in. But instead I found myself staring at the big Ben Franklin poster on my wall, and changed my mind. Sure, I could write about the particular snippets of disinformation and dishonesty that spewed forth from Barton during this particular interview, but what good would that do? Been there; done that. Then, staring up at the face of Ben Franklin, it was his words, “Do well by doing good,” that suddenly popped into my head.
“Do well by doing good” — the words of a man who could have become outrageously wealthy by patenting his inventions, but decided to just let everybody have them for the public good — have now been stuck in my head for hours, and aren’t going to leave until I do what I’m about to do — give my book away for free.
Can I afford to do this? No. Do I need to do this? Yes! Will lots of people download it and read it? I have no freakin’ idea. It’s just what I need to do to bee able to look Ben Franklin in the eye on that poster on my wall.
Sgt Justin Griffith, organizer of Rock Beyond Belief ~
http://new.exchristian.net/2011/06/david-bartons-pants-are-on-fire-for.html
The book is written by a gal named Chris Rodda. Here is what she said about giving away the book [which, by the way, you can apparently also buy.] I am planning to purchase the hard copy when I get a chance.
A few hours ago, I was about to sit down at my computer to do my usual thing — write about the Daily Show interview, and debunk the specific lies that Barton was able to get in. But instead I found myself staring at the big Ben Franklin poster on my wall, and changed my mind. Sure, I could write about the particular snippets of disinformation and dishonesty that spewed forth from Barton during this particular interview, but what good would that do? Been there; done that. Then, staring up at the face of Ben Franklin, it was his words, “Do well by doing good,” that suddenly popped into my head.
“Do well by doing good” — the words of a man who could have become outrageously wealthy by patenting his inventions, but decided to just let everybody have them for the public good — have now been stuck in my head for hours, and aren’t going to leave until I do what I’m about to do — give my book away for free.
Can I afford to do this? No. Do I need to do this? Yes! Will lots of people download it and read it? I have no freakin’ idea. It’s just what I need to do to bee able to look Ben Franklin in the eye on that poster on my wall.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Christianity
I am glad that someone is broaching this topic. These two ladies are to be commended for taking on a tough topic. The children deserve better than the treatment they are receiving. It is a travesty to allow religion to continue abuses that we no longer tolerate within our society.
Although Dealdoctor has pointed out that the golden rule states "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" this does not seem to apply within family units. For instance, what man wants to be totally submissive to his wife? What parents want to be "paddled" until they submit their will? So, the Golden Rule just doesn't seem to apply to families.
Although many times I was bothered by the teachings of the Fundie church I was going to, one of the items that really still bothers me is the way children are taught to uncompromisingly obey. Now, a certain amount of obedience is a good thing. It can be a life saver. But to squash the will of the child because that is what the Bible says is really sad.
The Bible has virtually no good advice on family relationships and raising children. Aside from love your wife like Christ loved the church, there is almost nothing. And how does God love the church? How does God love his creation - humankind? He smites them, beats them, humiliates them, destroys them and then says "I am a loving God!". What a lie.
God doesn't have decent people doing His will in the Bible. He has Solomon with his 800 concubines. He has David an adulterer and murderer. He has Lot and his daughters who perpetrate incest [along with several other incestuous incidents by His chosen]. He has Abraham who is willing to sacrifice is son on an alter. He has Jephthah who actually does sacrifice his only child, a virgin daughter. Time after time after time God seems to choose people to lead His flock and the people He chooses are not decent. They are terrible people.
God then blames humanity for all its ills. Does God help us find the best way to raise up decent people through our children? NO! He tells us to "Spare the rod and spoil the child." He says "Train your child up in the ways of the Lord and the child will not go wrong". Yet, we know that the ways of the Lord aren't very nice in the Bible.
So we get to churches like the Fundie church and we find that squashing the will of the child and crushing the child so that Satan won't have a chance at the child are promoted. Along with you are born sinful. Even small children are sinners. It is a recipe for disaster. I am still worried about the children of those fundie parents. How does it feel to grow up knowing that you can be spanked for just about anything you do? How does it feel knowing that you deserve to be hit? How do you grow into a loving adult with this kind of mental and physical abuse heaped on you day after day, year after year?
The Bible should be thrown into the garbage heap where it belongs. It has no redeeming family values in it and families are the basis the entire society rests upon. Can I get an Amen!?
Thanks, XPD. Coming from you that is high praise indeed. I was remembering back to when I was maybe 18 or 19 and I remember searching the Bible for the answers to my relationship problems with my ex. You know what? Not once in that book does it say "You will care for your family members with all tenderness and due caring. Husbands and wives will look into one another's eyes to see the light that shines from within their souls. Each child will be taught discipline and good work habits and the meaning of love by following their parents example. Parents will exercise discipline in order to teach the child the value of others and to encourage them to be patient, loving and kind. Children will be taught to be empathetic and to share and show encouragement towards others. Children will learn to put off wants until tomorrow and to take care of needs today. For neither greed nor procrastination is the best way to live a life. Love - the kind of love that cares deeply about others and yet encourages others to learn and be themselves - love, should be at the core of your family."
Although Dealdoctor has pointed out that the golden rule states "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" this does not seem to apply within family units. For instance, what man wants to be totally submissive to his wife? What parents want to be "paddled" until they submit their will? So, the Golden Rule just doesn't seem to apply to families.
Although many times I was bothered by the teachings of the Fundie church I was going to, one of the items that really still bothers me is the way children are taught to uncompromisingly obey. Now, a certain amount of obedience is a good thing. It can be a life saver. But to squash the will of the child because that is what the Bible says is really sad.
The Bible has virtually no good advice on family relationships and raising children. Aside from love your wife like Christ loved the church, there is almost nothing. And how does God love the church? How does God love his creation - humankind? He smites them, beats them, humiliates them, destroys them and then says "I am a loving God!". What a lie.
God doesn't have decent people doing His will in the Bible. He has Solomon with his 800 concubines. He has David an adulterer and murderer. He has Lot and his daughters who perpetrate incest [along with several other incestuous incidents by His chosen]. He has Abraham who is willing to sacrifice is son on an alter. He has Jephthah who actually does sacrifice his only child, a virgin daughter. Time after time after time God seems to choose people to lead His flock and the people He chooses are not decent. They are terrible people.
God then blames humanity for all its ills. Does God help us find the best way to raise up decent people through our children? NO! He tells us to "Spare the rod and spoil the child." He says "Train your child up in the ways of the Lord and the child will not go wrong". Yet, we know that the ways of the Lord aren't very nice in the Bible.
So we get to churches like the Fundie church and we find that squashing the will of the child and crushing the child so that Satan won't have a chance at the child are promoted. Along with you are born sinful. Even small children are sinners. It is a recipe for disaster. I am still worried about the children of those fundie parents. How does it feel to grow up knowing that you can be spanked for just about anything you do? How does it feel knowing that you deserve to be hit? How do you grow into a loving adult with this kind of mental and physical abuse heaped on you day after day, year after year?
The Bible should be thrown into the garbage heap where it belongs. It has no redeeming family values in it and families are the basis the entire society rests upon. Can I get an Amen!?
Thanks, XPD. Coming from you that is high praise indeed. I was remembering back to when I was maybe 18 or 19 and I remember searching the Bible for the answers to my relationship problems with my ex. You know what? Not once in that book does it say "You will care for your family members with all tenderness and due caring. Husbands and wives will look into one another's eyes to see the light that shines from within their souls. Each child will be taught discipline and good work habits and the meaning of love by following their parents example. Parents will exercise discipline in order to teach the child the value of others and to encourage them to be patient, loving and kind. Children will be taught to be empathetic and to share and show encouragement towards others. Children will learn to put off wants until tomorrow and to take care of needs today. For neither greed nor procrastination is the best way to live a life. Love - the kind of love that cares deeply about others and yet encourages others to learn and be themselves - love, should be at the core of your family."
Monday, March 28, 2011
Notable Quotable
"If we are going to teach 'Creation Science' . . . as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the 'Stork Theory' as an alternative to biological reproduction." ~Judith Hayes~
"Science . . . has opened our eyes to the vastness of the universe and given us light, truth and freedom from fear - where once was darkness, ignorance and superstition." ~Luther Burbank~
I found these two quotes and, of course, I think we could add Carl Sagan saying " Reason is a candle in the darkness." Hope I correctly quoted Carl. I know I am close:)
I in no way "worship science" which is a red herring thrown about by fundamentalists and a few others in Christianity. I do believe that science has shown us the vastness of the Universe. The possibilities of endless numbers of planets around this Universe. Thus, the likelihood that there are far more sentient beings in the Universe is growing exponentially. Now, they all live so far away and they are so spread out in the vastness of time we will probably never meet them. Yet, these other sentient beings either have in the past, are now or will be in the future "out there".
I also believe that science does not have all the answers. It doesn't have all the questions. Why are we here? Why is this society better than that society? Is our society being all that it can be? So many questions that science can only give us clues for. The answers lie in our hearts and minds. It is we, as a thinking species, that will have to sort these kind of questions out. Science can help.
Relying on an outside source like the Bible, the Koran, gods and demons is immature. Science has been helping us to grow up by allowing us to see these "parent figures" for what they are. Substitutes for taking responsibility where we need to and accepting the way life is when that is necessary. In essence, our species is being allowed to "grow up". Our reasoning mind must be kicked into high gear and allowed to assess our emotional mind so that we can decide what is a reasonable emotion and what actions we can or should take [children are lovable therefore we should take care of them] and what is an unreasonable emotion and/or action [I should beat my wife because I am angry.]
"Science . . . has opened our eyes to the vastness of the universe and given us light, truth and freedom from fear - where once was darkness, ignorance and superstition." ~Luther Burbank~
I found these two quotes and, of course, I think we could add Carl Sagan saying " Reason is a candle in the darkness." Hope I correctly quoted Carl. I know I am close:)
I in no way "worship science" which is a red herring thrown about by fundamentalists and a few others in Christianity. I do believe that science has shown us the vastness of the Universe. The possibilities of endless numbers of planets around this Universe. Thus, the likelihood that there are far more sentient beings in the Universe is growing exponentially. Now, they all live so far away and they are so spread out in the vastness of time we will probably never meet them. Yet, these other sentient beings either have in the past, are now or will be in the future "out there".
I also believe that science does not have all the answers. It doesn't have all the questions. Why are we here? Why is this society better than that society? Is our society being all that it can be? So many questions that science can only give us clues for. The answers lie in our hearts and minds. It is we, as a thinking species, that will have to sort these kind of questions out. Science can help.
Relying on an outside source like the Bible, the Koran, gods and demons is immature. Science has been helping us to grow up by allowing us to see these "parent figures" for what they are. Substitutes for taking responsibility where we need to and accepting the way life is when that is necessary. In essence, our species is being allowed to "grow up". Our reasoning mind must be kicked into high gear and allowed to assess our emotional mind so that we can decide what is a reasonable emotion and what actions we can or should take [children are lovable therefore we should take care of them] and what is an unreasonable emotion and/or action [I should beat my wife because I am angry.]
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Religion Hurts
We see it all the time. Religion hurts at least as much as it helps. I think it hurts the world and human beings far more than it helps them. I am reminded of this when I see comments from Christians that tell us that we are all born sinners. Sin is a man made disease. And priests, ministers, pastors and preachers have the cure. Come to church. Read the Bible. Give of your time, talents and money. It would seem, however, that accepting Jesus as your savior is no real cure as you have to keep on going to church, reading the Bible and giving of your time, talents and money for the rest of your life!
Original sin is such a sad and horrible concept. You aren't just born human with your good points and your bad points. You are born as filthy rags fit only for the dustbin. Such an overwhelmingly negative way to view yourself. The only cure, accepting Jesus, isn't much of a cure. You are still garbage. Its just that when you finally die Jesus has you covered.
This life is the only life we know for a fact that we get. Allowing ourselves the freedom to explore different beliefs is a gift we need to give to ourselves. A lot of us are coming to realize that the Bible is just another set of myths and Biblegod isn't any more real than anyone else's god. In fact, a lot of us are realizing that there probably just isn't any god at all. And for many of us that is a relief from the guilt of being born sinners and the fear of an imagined hell after death.
Original sin is such a sad and horrible concept. You aren't just born human with your good points and your bad points. You are born as filthy rags fit only for the dustbin. Such an overwhelmingly negative way to view yourself. The only cure, accepting Jesus, isn't much of a cure. You are still garbage. Its just that when you finally die Jesus has you covered.
This life is the only life we know for a fact that we get. Allowing ourselves the freedom to explore different beliefs is a gift we need to give to ourselves. A lot of us are coming to realize that the Bible is just another set of myths and Biblegod isn't any more real than anyone else's god. In fact, a lot of us are realizing that there probably just isn't any god at all. And for many of us that is a relief from the guilt of being born sinners and the fear of an imagined hell after death.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
A Personal Relationship with Jesus
Sometimes it still hurts when another human being accuses me of never having been a real Christian. To know that they haven't taken the time to get to know me before pronouncing judgement on what I believed as a Christian. To say it like it is a swear word, "You weren't a real Christian like I am. I have a personal relationship with god"
It seems to be utterly unfeeling. They aren't even trying to look at it from my point of view. They can maintain their superiority. Humility goes out the window and hard-heartedness flies in. It doesn't matter who you brush aside when you are a real Christian like them. The only people who count are themselves and maybe a few other people who they think are getting the Jesus thing right.
Well, I was a real Christian and now I am a real atheist. And I hope that you will find your way to being a better human being despite your Christian beliefs. While you are busy patting yourself on the back for having a personal relationship with Jesus, I am busy looking into the mirror of my soul and trying to understand others through understanding who and what I am.
Keneth W. Daniels addresses this idea of a personal savior in his book "Why I Believed". He quotes Kenneth Green: The use of the term "Personal Savior" isn't very harmful in itself, but it shows a kind of mind-set that is willing to "invent" terms, and then allow these terms to be preached as if they were actually found in the Bible.
Daniels goes on to quote Robert Price from "The Reason Driven Life": The greatest irony of the whole thing is that the "personal savior" piety to which Warren reduces the whole of Christian worship, indeed the whole of Christianity itself, is never so much as intimated in the New Testament. Also: There is simply nothing implicit or explicit in such texts suggesting that the believer has an ongoing personal acquaintance with Jesus.
This concept of "personal savior" just isn't in the Bible. Just like the term "original sin" or any number of other ways of making up the Jesus concept as you go along. You can then preach whatever you would like.
Perhaps you could consider being less of a preacher and more of an example. However, I won't be rejoining you in a religion that thinks that suffering is the better part of life.
It seems to be utterly unfeeling. They aren't even trying to look at it from my point of view. They can maintain their superiority. Humility goes out the window and hard-heartedness flies in. It doesn't matter who you brush aside when you are a real Christian like them. The only people who count are themselves and maybe a few other people who they think are getting the Jesus thing right.
Well, I was a real Christian and now I am a real atheist. And I hope that you will find your way to being a better human being despite your Christian beliefs. While you are busy patting yourself on the back for having a personal relationship with Jesus, I am busy looking into the mirror of my soul and trying to understand others through understanding who and what I am.
Keneth W. Daniels addresses this idea of a personal savior in his book "Why I Believed". He quotes Kenneth Green: The use of the term "Personal Savior" isn't very harmful in itself, but it shows a kind of mind-set that is willing to "invent" terms, and then allow these terms to be preached as if they were actually found in the Bible.
Daniels goes on to quote Robert Price from "The Reason Driven Life": The greatest irony of the whole thing is that the "personal savior" piety to which Warren reduces the whole of Christian worship, indeed the whole of Christianity itself, is never so much as intimated in the New Testament. Also: There is simply nothing implicit or explicit in such texts suggesting that the believer has an ongoing personal acquaintance with Jesus.
This concept of "personal savior" just isn't in the Bible. Just like the term "original sin" or any number of other ways of making up the Jesus concept as you go along. You can then preach whatever you would like.
Perhaps you could consider being less of a preacher and more of an example. However, I won't be rejoining you in a religion that thinks that suffering is the better part of life.
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