The Ten Commandments are not about morality but control.
Morality comes from within and demands the very best of us—
insight, compassion and courage.
Commandments or laws are imposed from without and demand nothing more than mere obedience.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
thought of the day.4
Believing that the King of the Universe watches over one’s each and every move, knows one’s each and every thought, cherishes one’s each and every hair on one’s precious head, is not an act of humility but unbridled egotism.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
thought of the day.3
The seeker of truth holds all “truths” tentatively and welcomes additional information that may prove them false.
The True Believer possesses “The Truth” and eschews any contradictory information as necessarily false.
The True Believer possesses “The Truth” and eschews any contradictory information as necessarily false.
Friday, December 28, 2007
thought of the day.2
No humane person could be happy in heaven knowing a family member, friend, or even a perfect stranger is suffering in hell.
So if hell exists, heaven cannot.
So if hell exists, heaven cannot.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
thought of the day.1
Because we are so profoundly limited by the subjective nature of our mind, the instant the idea of a god enters our consciousness is the instant we’ve created our own god—a false god, an idol.
Atheism then, is not only the most reasonable position based on the lack of evidence for such a being, but must also be, ironically, less offensive to any such possible deity than theism.
Atheism then, is not only the most reasonable position based on the lack of evidence for such a being, but must also be, ironically, less offensive to any such possible deity than theism.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The Santa God Delusion
Santa is God to children as God is Santa to adults.
As believers in Santa, we go to the mall to tell Santa what we want and to the mail box to send him letters. We present offerings of milk and cookies, sing songs and read stories about him and his supernatural powers. As believers in God, we go to the church instead of the mall and talk to the priest or pastor instead of Santa. We send our letters in prayer form through the air rather than the mail, our offerings are of cash instead of cookies, and of course we sing songs and read stories about God as well. Both God and Santa are all-knowing, seeing our each and every deed. They sit as cosmic judges, showering the good with toys and blessings, while punishing the bad with a lump of coal or burning them like one. Both hail from faraway places, Santa residing in a secret place atop the world and God above the clouds. Santa writes people’s names in his big book as does God. Both have somehow existed forever and neither seems likely to ever die. Both Santa and God have supernatural helpers and both are creators and distributors of gifts, Santa employing elves to assist him and God, angels.
Both children and adults long to see the object of their affection and many are convinced they do. A glimpse of a red hat in the living room on Christmas Eve, the sound of reindeer on the roof, the jingle of a bell or an angel in human form, a magical, unexplainable feeling, a heavenly whisper, an answered prayer.
It’s fun and relatively harmless to believe such things as a child. It may bring joy and comfort to persist in such delusion as an adult but it’s hardly harmless. Belief in the supernatural leads to unwarranted guilt and fear and the danger increases dramatically with increased power as when the Christian Church burned priceless books and countless people, when Muslims, sure of their ticket to Paradise, flew planes into buildings, or when the most powerful man in the world thought he heard the whisper of his God command war.
As believers in Santa, we go to the mall to tell Santa what we want and to the mail box to send him letters. We present offerings of milk and cookies, sing songs and read stories about him and his supernatural powers. As believers in God, we go to the church instead of the mall and talk to the priest or pastor instead of Santa. We send our letters in prayer form through the air rather than the mail, our offerings are of cash instead of cookies, and of course we sing songs and read stories about God as well. Both God and Santa are all-knowing, seeing our each and every deed. They sit as cosmic judges, showering the good with toys and blessings, while punishing the bad with a lump of coal or burning them like one. Both hail from faraway places, Santa residing in a secret place atop the world and God above the clouds. Santa writes people’s names in his big book as does God. Both have somehow existed forever and neither seems likely to ever die. Both Santa and God have supernatural helpers and both are creators and distributors of gifts, Santa employing elves to assist him and God, angels.
Both children and adults long to see the object of their affection and many are convinced they do. A glimpse of a red hat in the living room on Christmas Eve, the sound of reindeer on the roof, the jingle of a bell or an angel in human form, a magical, unexplainable feeling, a heavenly whisper, an answered prayer.
It’s fun and relatively harmless to believe such things as a child. It may bring joy and comfort to persist in such delusion as an adult but it’s hardly harmless. Belief in the supernatural leads to unwarranted guilt and fear and the danger increases dramatically with increased power as when the Christian Church burned priceless books and countless people, when Muslims, sure of their ticket to Paradise, flew planes into buildings, or when the most powerful man in the world thought he heard the whisper of his God command war.
Monday, November 19, 2007
is this perfection?
It’s widely accepted that God and Jesus are “perfect.” Let’s look at this idea.
SINS OF THE FATHER AND SON
The God of the Bible commanded, condoned and committed atrocity after atrocity. He drowned countless people and animals and burned countless others to death with fire and brimstone. He starved his own chosen people to the point of eating their infants, afterbirth and all. He punished them with diseases that made their eyes rot in their sockets and their tongues rot in their mouth. He opened the earth to swallow entire families, sent poisonous snakes to bite them, bears to tear them to pieces, enemies to slaughter and enslave them and commanded the genocide of entire nations. And if it’s understood that Jesus IS God, then it must be understood that Jesus did the same. Throw in the Holy Spirit who gives true believers the power to blind people (Acts 13:6-12) and you have three gods in one who all solve problems through violence.
If the three headed deity is “perfect” and solves problems with violence why shouldn’t we?
SLAVERY
God declared that his people were permitted to buy and sell men, women and children as slaves. In fact, God said a father could sell his own daughters into lifelong slavery. Jesus spoke often of masters and their slaves — of slaves being “heavily whipped”, “beaten,” “killed,” “stoned” and “cut into pieces” but not once does Jesus condemn slavery. Never does he suggest it’s immoral to sell your daughters. Paul instructs slaves to obey their masters in several passages (Ephesians 6:5, I Timothy 6:1, Titus 2:9-10) and Peter instructs slaves to obey and fear their master, even the cruel and unjust (1 Peter 2:18). Perhaps a single sentence condemning slavery would have changed the course of history.
If “perfection” never condemned slavery as evil why should we?
CRUELTY TO THE POWERLESS
Jesus is shown to be a cruel and bigoted character when he chooses to ignore a mother distraught over the suffering of her daughter. Apparently Jesus only came to heal certain people and this woman was born on the wrong side of the DNA tracks. No Jew, no service. When the mother desperately kneels and begs Jesus for help, he callously rejects her pleas and dehumanizes her by likening her and her little girl to “dogs” before finally easing the child’s suffering.
If “perfection” can speak so cruely to others why shouldn’t we?
In an act more appropriate of a demon than benevolent deity, a hungry and frustrated Jesus cursed an out of season fig tree to death simply because it had no fruit. Would it not be more “perfect” to “bless” with life rather than “curse” with death?
If “perfection” destroys life simply because it sometimes disappoints why shouldn’t we?
On another occasion he displays a total disregard for the welfare of animals—as well as the property of others—as he sends demons into a herd of two thousand pigs making them drown in the sea. Saint Augustine explained that this act was intended to teach us that we have no responsibilities for the welfare of animals. Pete Singer notes: “This interpretation was accepted by Thomas Aquinas, who stated that the only possible objection to cruelty to animals was that it might lead to cruelty to humans - according to Aquinas, there was nothing wrong in itself with making animals suffer. This became the official view of the Roman Catholic Church to such good — or bad — effect that as late as the middle of the nineteenth century Pope Pius IX refused permission for the founding of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Rome, on the grounds that to grant permission would imply that human beings have duties to the lower creatures.”
If “perfection” destroyed innocent life and the property of others why shouldn’t we?
THE GREAT DEMONIZER
Long before Hitler became known as one of the most evil men of all time, a seed of hatred was planted in the mind of humanity. Planted by the writers of Christian scriptures, it declared that Jews were responsible for the murder of God. In those writings Jesus demonizes unbelieving Jews, calling them “evil,” “serpents,” and children of the “devil” damned to be burned in a furnace.
Following in the footsteps of Jesus, Paul demonized Elymas, calling him a “child of the devil,” and then blinded him (Acts 13:6-12). During the council of Nicaea—when Christianity was made the official religion of Rome—Jews were referred to as “mad”... “utterly depraved”...“murderers of our Lord.” Early fathers of the Christian church continued the dehumanizing and demonizing of Jews inspiring nearly 2,000 years of often violent persecution leading to Hitler’s “Final Solution.”
If “perfection” demonized others why shouldn’t we?
THE SLAUGHTER OF BILLIONS
Jesus spoke approvingly of his father drowning and burning great multitudes of humanity and promised similar destruction on the day he returned. Paul describes Jesus as coming from heaven “with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution.” If the Old Testament drips with blood, the New Testament Book of Revelation is swimming in it. D.H. Lawrence describes the writer’s lust for blood and destruction in the second half of Revelation as “flamboyant hate.”
Jesus’ revelations include images of people being pummeled by 100 pound hail stones, poisoned by bitter water, crushed by falling buildings, tortured for months on end by grotesque creatures, burned with fire, killed by war, famine, disease and wild animals. The “King of kings and Lord of lords” returns wearing a robe covered with blood. Blood is spilled in the streets and rains from the sky. There are rivers of blood, a sea of blood filled with dead creatures and a flood of blood pouring out of the wine press of his father’s furious anger. Jesus reveals that upon his second coming over a third of the world’s population will be killed meaning a slaughter of over two billion men, women and children if he returned today.
If “perfection” promises to cover the earth in blood why shouldn’t we?
ETERNAL VIOLENCE
Jesus said he came not to bring peace but a sword. He told many violent parables which included accounts of a vineyard owner slaying his tenants, a master slicing up his slave, a king commanding his enemies be executed in front of him, a stone symbolizing himself, upon which some people are broken to pieces and under which others are crushed to dust and threatened to personally throw Jezebel and her adulturous partners on a bed where he would make them “suffer terribly” and “kill her children.” Of course, no violence can compare to Jesus’ threat of punishing humans in the fires of hell for eternity.
Jesus promised that humans would be burned by flames that never go out and would be eaten by worms that never die. He spoke of disbelievers being condemned, of angels separating the wicked from the righteous, of crying and gnashing of teeth, of people suffering day and night for ever and always, of entire cities being thrown into a fiery furnace. Again and again, Jesus preached the most abhorent of all concepts—the doctrine of Hell.
The Sight of Hell (1855), inspired by Jesus, penned by a priest and distributed to children in Catholic churches has St. Basil and St. Teresa describing hell as a place where worms without number bite and eat the flesh causing unbearable pain. The question is asked: “How will you feel in hell, when millions of them make their dwelling-place in your mouth, and ears, and eyes, and creep all over you, and sting you with their deadly stings through all eternity?” On the sordid tour of the “fiery furnace” we are escorted into different torture chambers where children are burning alive and screaming to get out. One young woman is described as wearing a flaming dress and bonnet of fire that burns into her skull and melts her brain. Children are “chained down on beds of red-hot blazing fire” and their bodies are salted with fire. “The fire burns through every bone and every muscle. Every nerve is trembling and quivering with the sharp fire. The fire rages inside the skull, it shoots out through the eyes, it drops out through the ears, it roars in the throat as it roars up a chimney.” The booklet concludes…“There is one thing which could change hell into heaven. An angel of God comes to the gates of hell and says: ‘Listen to me, all ye people in hell, for I bring you good news. You will still burn in hell for almost countless millions of years. But a day will come, and on that day the pains of hell will be no more! You will go out of hell.’ But such a message will never come to hell, because God has said that the punishment of hell shall be everlasting!”
It is time we call these archaic methods of control exactly what they are—‘mental abuse.’ In the year 2004 alone, over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse were filed in the U.S. against priests accused of molesting and raping children and teenagers. Ethologist, Richard Dawkins said, “Who will say with confidence that sexual abuse is more permanently damaging to children then threatening them with the eternal and unquenchable fires of hell?” Psychologist Margaret Knight, said “This hideous doctrine of eternal torment after death has probably caused more terror and misery, more cruelty and more violation of natural human sympathy, than any belief in the history of mankind. Yet this doctrine was taught unambiguously by Jesus.”
If “perfection” inflicts never ending torture why shouldn’t we inflict all the torture we’re capable of?
LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES
In the gospel of Mark, the Jesus character said “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mk 11:24) We all know this simply is not true. In Matthew he said, “Ask and it will be given to you... For everyone who asks receives...” (Mt 7:7-8) And, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Mt 21:22) Again, both statements are clearly not true. In another gospel, Jesus promises, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it...” (John 14:13-14) Once again, not true. Jesus also notes that if one gets a friend to agree on a wish, God himself will make it real. “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them...” (Matthew 18:19) Yet another demonstrable untruth. How many untrue statements must a person make before it is fair to call them a liar?
Not only is the Jesus character a blatant liar, his statements are irresponsible and dangerous. Imagine if all Christians really believed what he said about handling snakes and drinking poison? (Mark16:18) Sadly, thousands of people have and have suffered countless bites, deformities, and death due directly to Jesus’ lies. And it seems Jesus had no understanding of germs, disease or epilepsy thinking instead that “evil spirits” or “demons” were behind their ailments. (See Luke 13:15-16 for but one example) What if all Christians took their suffering children to the priest instead of the doctor? Or just asked God to make them well like Jesus suggested? Glass of poison anyone?
If “perfection” tells lies, why shouldn’t we?
If perfection solves problems with violence, speaks cruelly to others, destroys innocent life and the property of others, demonizes others, covers the earth in blood, tortures people, and tells lies, why shouldn’t we? Are we to be holier than our God? To suggest such a miserable projection of our worst human characteristics is a “perfect” God is to call evil, good.
SINS OF THE FATHER AND SON
The God of the Bible commanded, condoned and committed atrocity after atrocity. He drowned countless people and animals and burned countless others to death with fire and brimstone. He starved his own chosen people to the point of eating their infants, afterbirth and all. He punished them with diseases that made their eyes rot in their sockets and their tongues rot in their mouth. He opened the earth to swallow entire families, sent poisonous snakes to bite them, bears to tear them to pieces, enemies to slaughter and enslave them and commanded the genocide of entire nations. And if it’s understood that Jesus IS God, then it must be understood that Jesus did the same. Throw in the Holy Spirit who gives true believers the power to blind people (Acts 13:6-12) and you have three gods in one who all solve problems through violence.
If the three headed deity is “perfect” and solves problems with violence why shouldn’t we?
SLAVERY
God declared that his people were permitted to buy and sell men, women and children as slaves. In fact, God said a father could sell his own daughters into lifelong slavery. Jesus spoke often of masters and their slaves — of slaves being “heavily whipped”, “beaten,” “killed,” “stoned” and “cut into pieces” but not once does Jesus condemn slavery. Never does he suggest it’s immoral to sell your daughters. Paul instructs slaves to obey their masters in several passages (Ephesians 6:5, I Timothy 6:1, Titus 2:9-10) and Peter instructs slaves to obey and fear their master, even the cruel and unjust (1 Peter 2:18). Perhaps a single sentence condemning slavery would have changed the course of history.
If “perfection” never condemned slavery as evil why should we?
CRUELTY TO THE POWERLESS
Jesus is shown to be a cruel and bigoted character when he chooses to ignore a mother distraught over the suffering of her daughter. Apparently Jesus only came to heal certain people and this woman was born on the wrong side of the DNA tracks. No Jew, no service. When the mother desperately kneels and begs Jesus for help, he callously rejects her pleas and dehumanizes her by likening her and her little girl to “dogs” before finally easing the child’s suffering.
If “perfection” can speak so cruely to others why shouldn’t we?
In an act more appropriate of a demon than benevolent deity, a hungry and frustrated Jesus cursed an out of season fig tree to death simply because it had no fruit. Would it not be more “perfect” to “bless” with life rather than “curse” with death?
If “perfection” destroys life simply because it sometimes disappoints why shouldn’t we?
On another occasion he displays a total disregard for the welfare of animals—as well as the property of others—as he sends demons into a herd of two thousand pigs making them drown in the sea. Saint Augustine explained that this act was intended to teach us that we have no responsibilities for the welfare of animals. Pete Singer notes: “This interpretation was accepted by Thomas Aquinas, who stated that the only possible objection to cruelty to animals was that it might lead to cruelty to humans - according to Aquinas, there was nothing wrong in itself with making animals suffer. This became the official view of the Roman Catholic Church to such good — or bad — effect that as late as the middle of the nineteenth century Pope Pius IX refused permission for the founding of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Rome, on the grounds that to grant permission would imply that human beings have duties to the lower creatures.”
If “perfection” destroyed innocent life and the property of others why shouldn’t we?
THE GREAT DEMONIZER
Long before Hitler became known as one of the most evil men of all time, a seed of hatred was planted in the mind of humanity. Planted by the writers of Christian scriptures, it declared that Jews were responsible for the murder of God. In those writings Jesus demonizes unbelieving Jews, calling them “evil,” “serpents,” and children of the “devil” damned to be burned in a furnace.
Following in the footsteps of Jesus, Paul demonized Elymas, calling him a “child of the devil,” and then blinded him (Acts 13:6-12). During the council of Nicaea—when Christianity was made the official religion of Rome—Jews were referred to as “mad”... “utterly depraved”...“murderers of our Lord.” Early fathers of the Christian church continued the dehumanizing and demonizing of Jews inspiring nearly 2,000 years of often violent persecution leading to Hitler’s “Final Solution.”
If “perfection” demonized others why shouldn’t we?
THE SLAUGHTER OF BILLIONS
Jesus spoke approvingly of his father drowning and burning great multitudes of humanity and promised similar destruction on the day he returned. Paul describes Jesus as coming from heaven “with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution.” If the Old Testament drips with blood, the New Testament Book of Revelation is swimming in it. D.H. Lawrence describes the writer’s lust for blood and destruction in the second half of Revelation as “flamboyant hate.”
Jesus’ revelations include images of people being pummeled by 100 pound hail stones, poisoned by bitter water, crushed by falling buildings, tortured for months on end by grotesque creatures, burned with fire, killed by war, famine, disease and wild animals. The “King of kings and Lord of lords” returns wearing a robe covered with blood. Blood is spilled in the streets and rains from the sky. There are rivers of blood, a sea of blood filled with dead creatures and a flood of blood pouring out of the wine press of his father’s furious anger. Jesus reveals that upon his second coming over a third of the world’s population will be killed meaning a slaughter of over two billion men, women and children if he returned today.
If “perfection” promises to cover the earth in blood why shouldn’t we?
ETERNAL VIOLENCE
Jesus said he came not to bring peace but a sword. He told many violent parables which included accounts of a vineyard owner slaying his tenants, a master slicing up his slave, a king commanding his enemies be executed in front of him, a stone symbolizing himself, upon which some people are broken to pieces and under which others are crushed to dust and threatened to personally throw Jezebel and her adulturous partners on a bed where he would make them “suffer terribly” and “kill her children.” Of course, no violence can compare to Jesus’ threat of punishing humans in the fires of hell for eternity.
Jesus promised that humans would be burned by flames that never go out and would be eaten by worms that never die. He spoke of disbelievers being condemned, of angels separating the wicked from the righteous, of crying and gnashing of teeth, of people suffering day and night for ever and always, of entire cities being thrown into a fiery furnace. Again and again, Jesus preached the most abhorent of all concepts—the doctrine of Hell.
The Sight of Hell (1855), inspired by Jesus, penned by a priest and distributed to children in Catholic churches has St. Basil and St. Teresa describing hell as a place where worms without number bite and eat the flesh causing unbearable pain. The question is asked: “How will you feel in hell, when millions of them make their dwelling-place in your mouth, and ears, and eyes, and creep all over you, and sting you with their deadly stings through all eternity?” On the sordid tour of the “fiery furnace” we are escorted into different torture chambers where children are burning alive and screaming to get out. One young woman is described as wearing a flaming dress and bonnet of fire that burns into her skull and melts her brain. Children are “chained down on beds of red-hot blazing fire” and their bodies are salted with fire. “The fire burns through every bone and every muscle. Every nerve is trembling and quivering with the sharp fire. The fire rages inside the skull, it shoots out through the eyes, it drops out through the ears, it roars in the throat as it roars up a chimney.” The booklet concludes…“There is one thing which could change hell into heaven. An angel of God comes to the gates of hell and says: ‘Listen to me, all ye people in hell, for I bring you good news. You will still burn in hell for almost countless millions of years. But a day will come, and on that day the pains of hell will be no more! You will go out of hell.’ But such a message will never come to hell, because God has said that the punishment of hell shall be everlasting!”
It is time we call these archaic methods of control exactly what they are—‘mental abuse.’ In the year 2004 alone, over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse were filed in the U.S. against priests accused of molesting and raping children and teenagers. Ethologist, Richard Dawkins said, “Who will say with confidence that sexual abuse is more permanently damaging to children then threatening them with the eternal and unquenchable fires of hell?” Psychologist Margaret Knight, said “This hideous doctrine of eternal torment after death has probably caused more terror and misery, more cruelty and more violation of natural human sympathy, than any belief in the history of mankind. Yet this doctrine was taught unambiguously by Jesus.”
If “perfection” inflicts never ending torture why shouldn’t we inflict all the torture we’re capable of?
LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES
In the gospel of Mark, the Jesus character said “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mk 11:24) We all know this simply is not true. In Matthew he said, “Ask and it will be given to you... For everyone who asks receives...” (Mt 7:7-8) And, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Mt 21:22) Again, both statements are clearly not true. In another gospel, Jesus promises, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it...” (John 14:13-14) Once again, not true. Jesus also notes that if one gets a friend to agree on a wish, God himself will make it real. “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them...” (Matthew 18:19) Yet another demonstrable untruth. How many untrue statements must a person make before it is fair to call them a liar?
Not only is the Jesus character a blatant liar, his statements are irresponsible and dangerous. Imagine if all Christians really believed what he said about handling snakes and drinking poison? (Mark16:18) Sadly, thousands of people have and have suffered countless bites, deformities, and death due directly to Jesus’ lies. And it seems Jesus had no understanding of germs, disease or epilepsy thinking instead that “evil spirits” or “demons” were behind their ailments. (See Luke 13:15-16 for but one example) What if all Christians took their suffering children to the priest instead of the doctor? Or just asked God to make them well like Jesus suggested? Glass of poison anyone?
If “perfection” tells lies, why shouldn’t we?
If perfection solves problems with violence, speaks cruelly to others, destroys innocent life and the property of others, demonizes others, covers the earth in blood, tortures people, and tells lies, why shouldn’t we? Are we to be holier than our God? To suggest such a miserable projection of our worst human characteristics is a “perfect” God is to call evil, good.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
the real ten commandments in ten parts
1. Few people realize that the Ten Commandments were not given once but several times. Even fewer people realize that God gave Moses two dramatically different sets of Ten Commandments. Initially they were simply spoken by God, a second time God carved them in stone with his finger, and a third time God dictated them to Moses who wrote them on stone tablets himself. Yet a fourth telling of the story has details that differ from the previous accounts.
2. Though it matters little to the story, it should be noted that Moses was very likely a fictional character based on a much older mythological character known as Sargon of Agade. It’s also important to know that Moses was not the first character to claim to receive commandments from a god. Shamash, the god of Babylonia, gave his laws to Hammurabi long before Yahweh (the god of the Israelites), gave his laws to Moses and before either Moses or Hammurabi received their laws, the Sumerian King Ur-Nammu was given laws from the sky god An and the wind/storm god Enlil. It seems it was common thinking that claiming laws to be of divine origin imbued them with more authority.
3. Early in their relationship God meets Moses at a camping place and tries to kill him. (Ex 4:24-26) Luckily for Moses, his wife has the insight to hurriedly cut off her son’s foreskin with a sharp stone and press it against Moses’ feet. How she knew that Moses was in need of having his foot touched with her son’s freshly amputated bloody foreskin is a mystery but it seems to appease God who now changes his plans for Moses from wanting him dead to employing him as his spokesman.
4. Putting the attempt on his life behind him, Moses travels on to Egypt as God’s messenger to demand the freeing of his people. The first trick Moses performs fails to impress as the king’s magicians could also turn a wooden stick into a live snake. (Ex 7:8-13) His second trick of turning all the water in Egypt into blood also falls flat as again the king’s magicians match the feat which was actually far more impressive as it seems they first had to restore the water that God had ruined and then ruin it all over again. (Ex 7:14-25) God goes on to inflict great suffering culminating in the slaughter of all the first-born males in Egypt. The king is so distraught over the loss of his child that his will is broken and he frees the Israelites. (Ex 12:29-31) The first regulations Moses receives from God concern the Passover celebration thus named in honor of the Angel of Death which “passed over” the Israelites while only smiting the Egyptians.
5. To the Ten Commandments we go. Moses warns that anyone — man or animal — approaching the mountain will be stoned to death or shot with arrows. (Ex 19:12-13) Once all the people have been frightened away, Moses approaches God who apparently is made out of smoke and fire and speaks Thunder. (Ex 19:18-19) We note that in this version God has commanded Moses to bring Aaron up with him (Ex 19:24) and we see that the Ten Commandments are initially spoken not written in stone. (Ex 19:25-20:1-17) Some of the first laws God gives concern the proper protocol for buying slaves (Ex 21:1-11) and killing disobedient children. (Ex 21:15-17) First things first. There are a few more commands to kill certain women and those worshiping other gods (Ex 22:18-20) and concludes with timeless wisdom of never cooking a goat in its mother’s milk. (Ex 23:14-19)
6. Apparently God then decides the Ten Commandments he had given verbally to Moses and Aaron back in chapter 20 should be carved in stone. This time he only calls Moses up the mountain to receive two tablets and Aaron is left back at camp.(Ex 24:12-14) At this point we find out that God is very particular about fancy linens, diamonds and gold and the next several pages are dedicated to his detailed specifications concerning such things. When God is finally done speaking to Moses, he gives him two stone tablets on which he himself has written his commandments. (Ex 31:18)
7. While Moses was on the mountain going without food and water for 40 days, (Ex 34:28) the Israelites grew restless and abandoned God. Moses returns with tablets in hand and is furious to see Aaron and the people worshiping a new god. Moses promptly throws down God’s Laws breaking them into pieces. To quash the coup, Moses tells his followers that God commands them to “go through the camp … and kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors.”(Ex 32:25-29) Those obedient to Moses then kill 3,000 of their brothers, friends and neighbors and God blesses them for their holy slaughter and Moses thanks them by ordaining them as Priests.
8. After breaking God’s first set of holy stones, God tells Moses to “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke” (Ex 34:1). Clear as day, God says he is going to write the same words that were on the first stones. And according to God himself, what were the Ten Commandments that were written on both the first and second set of stone tablets?
“Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Ex 34:14)
"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. (Ex 34:15)
"Do not make cast idols. (Ex 34:17)
"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. (Ex 34:18)
"The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed. (Ex 34:19-20)
"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. (Ex 34:21)
"Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God. (Ex 34:22-23)
"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. (Ex 34:25)
"Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. (Ex 34:26)
"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk." (Ex 34:26)
9. What were these Laws called? Let’s listen in on God’s conversation with Moses... “Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." ... And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.” (Ex 34:27-28) It’s this version and this version only in which God states immediately before and after the commandments that it is with these words which he makes his covenant.(Ex 34:10, 27) And it is only when carrying this version of the Ten Commandments down the mountain does Moses’ face radiate. (Ex 34:29-35)
10. So when good Christians clamor to post the Ten Commandments in public places let’s make sure they post God’s final “covenant” version that condemns cooking a goat in his mother’s milk. That way we can rest assured that our children will be obedient. Or perhaps an even better way to keep our kids in line would be to post God’s commandment to stone the trouble makers. (Ex 21:15-17)
2. Though it matters little to the story, it should be noted that Moses was very likely a fictional character based on a much older mythological character known as Sargon of Agade. It’s also important to know that Moses was not the first character to claim to receive commandments from a god. Shamash, the god of Babylonia, gave his laws to Hammurabi long before Yahweh (the god of the Israelites), gave his laws to Moses and before either Moses or Hammurabi received their laws, the Sumerian King Ur-Nammu was given laws from the sky god An and the wind/storm god Enlil. It seems it was common thinking that claiming laws to be of divine origin imbued them with more authority.
3. Early in their relationship God meets Moses at a camping place and tries to kill him. (Ex 4:24-26) Luckily for Moses, his wife has the insight to hurriedly cut off her son’s foreskin with a sharp stone and press it against Moses’ feet. How she knew that Moses was in need of having his foot touched with her son’s freshly amputated bloody foreskin is a mystery but it seems to appease God who now changes his plans for Moses from wanting him dead to employing him as his spokesman.
4. Putting the attempt on his life behind him, Moses travels on to Egypt as God’s messenger to demand the freeing of his people. The first trick Moses performs fails to impress as the king’s magicians could also turn a wooden stick into a live snake. (Ex 7:8-13) His second trick of turning all the water in Egypt into blood also falls flat as again the king’s magicians match the feat which was actually far more impressive as it seems they first had to restore the water that God had ruined and then ruin it all over again. (Ex 7:14-25) God goes on to inflict great suffering culminating in the slaughter of all the first-born males in Egypt. The king is so distraught over the loss of his child that his will is broken and he frees the Israelites. (Ex 12:29-31) The first regulations Moses receives from God concern the Passover celebration thus named in honor of the Angel of Death which “passed over” the Israelites while only smiting the Egyptians.
5. To the Ten Commandments we go. Moses warns that anyone — man or animal — approaching the mountain will be stoned to death or shot with arrows. (Ex 19:12-13) Once all the people have been frightened away, Moses approaches God who apparently is made out of smoke and fire and speaks Thunder. (Ex 19:18-19) We note that in this version God has commanded Moses to bring Aaron up with him (Ex 19:24) and we see that the Ten Commandments are initially spoken not written in stone. (Ex 19:25-20:1-17) Some of the first laws God gives concern the proper protocol for buying slaves (Ex 21:1-11) and killing disobedient children. (Ex 21:15-17) First things first. There are a few more commands to kill certain women and those worshiping other gods (Ex 22:18-20) and concludes with timeless wisdom of never cooking a goat in its mother’s milk. (Ex 23:14-19)
6. Apparently God then decides the Ten Commandments he had given verbally to Moses and Aaron back in chapter 20 should be carved in stone. This time he only calls Moses up the mountain to receive two tablets and Aaron is left back at camp.(Ex 24:12-14) At this point we find out that God is very particular about fancy linens, diamonds and gold and the next several pages are dedicated to his detailed specifications concerning such things. When God is finally done speaking to Moses, he gives him two stone tablets on which he himself has written his commandments. (Ex 31:18)
7. While Moses was on the mountain going without food and water for 40 days, (Ex 34:28) the Israelites grew restless and abandoned God. Moses returns with tablets in hand and is furious to see Aaron and the people worshiping a new god. Moses promptly throws down God’s Laws breaking them into pieces. To quash the coup, Moses tells his followers that God commands them to “go through the camp … and kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors.”(Ex 32:25-29) Those obedient to Moses then kill 3,000 of their brothers, friends and neighbors and God blesses them for their holy slaughter and Moses thanks them by ordaining them as Priests.
8. After breaking God’s first set of holy stones, God tells Moses to “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke” (Ex 34:1). Clear as day, God says he is going to write the same words that were on the first stones. And according to God himself, what were the Ten Commandments that were written on both the first and second set of stone tablets?
“Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Ex 34:14)
"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. (Ex 34:15)
"Do not make cast idols. (Ex 34:17)
"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. (Ex 34:18)
"The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed. (Ex 34:19-20)
"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. (Ex 34:21)
"Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God. (Ex 34:22-23)
"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. (Ex 34:25)
"Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. (Ex 34:26)
"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk." (Ex 34:26)
9. What were these Laws called? Let’s listen in on God’s conversation with Moses... “Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." ... And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.” (Ex 34:27-28) It’s this version and this version only in which God states immediately before and after the commandments that it is with these words which he makes his covenant.(Ex 34:10, 27) And it is only when carrying this version of the Ten Commandments down the mountain does Moses’ face radiate. (Ex 34:29-35)
10. So when good Christians clamor to post the Ten Commandments in public places let’s make sure they post God’s final “covenant” version that condemns cooking a goat in his mother’s milk. That way we can rest assured that our children will be obedient. Or perhaps an even better way to keep our kids in line would be to post God’s commandment to stone the trouble makers. (Ex 21:15-17)
Friday, October 26, 2007
flood of violence
A mere six chapters into the Bible, God decides to kill every living being on earth—every bird, every animal and every human. (Gn 6-7). Why birds and animals had to suffer and die for the sins of mankind isn’t made clear but save for a handful on a boat they are all said to perish under swirling holy water. These same waters swallowed terrified mothers and their infants, screaming little boys and girls, men and women. All washed away as God scrubbed the earth clean of wickedness. Ah, can’t you just see the new world sparkle!
A critical examination of The Flood should include a study of the Epic of Gilgamesh (a much older myth sharing some twenty major points strongly suggesting the Israelites simply stole the story). However, rather than focusing on this fact, the complete lack of archaeological evidence of such a flood, or the sheer absurdity of thinking one could possibly gather every species “that breathes” from the far reaches of the planet, I think more profound truths might be discovered by asking a few questions.
What was accomplished with The Flood? What was the long-term benefit of the most violent act in all of literature — was all the killing worth it?
The Bible itself shows God’s attempt to wash away wickedness to be the most miserable failure of all time. In the chapters immediately following the slaughter of all slaughters, wickedness spreads as quickly as the flood waters did. And God responds to this new human wickedness with more divine wickedness. Faced with the problem of sin in Sodom, he chose to incinerate the valley’s inhabitants with “fire and brimstone” (Gn 19:24). Jealous that the children of Israel were worshipping idols, he chose to murder the transgressors, commanding men to take up their swords and “kill your brothers and friends and neighbors” (Ex 32:27-29).
The biblical message is loud and clear. Violence purifies, destruction is righteous and bloodshed redeems, and this message has validated brutality for two thousand years. The idea of a punishing God justifies the violent actions of the punishing parent, authority figure, and nation.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize he said, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” King eloquently articulated the weakness of violence, describing it as “a descending spiral” which begets “the very thing it seeks to destroy.” He said that violence does not diminish evil but only multiplies it: “Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.”
God’s violence only begat more violence. He drowned the wicked but not wickedness, incinerated sinners but not sin and murdered idolators but not idolotry. As King said, violence doesn’t eliminate wickedness but multiplies it. At the very best, violence is a short term solution. To reach our full potential as human beings—as humane beings—we will have to learn to resolve problems without resorting to violence and this begins with a devotion to compassion not to the dangerous delusion called God.
A critical examination of The Flood should include a study of the Epic of Gilgamesh (a much older myth sharing some twenty major points strongly suggesting the Israelites simply stole the story). However, rather than focusing on this fact, the complete lack of archaeological evidence of such a flood, or the sheer absurdity of thinking one could possibly gather every species “that breathes” from the far reaches of the planet, I think more profound truths might be discovered by asking a few questions.
What was accomplished with The Flood? What was the long-term benefit of the most violent act in all of literature — was all the killing worth it?
The Bible itself shows God’s attempt to wash away wickedness to be the most miserable failure of all time. In the chapters immediately following the slaughter of all slaughters, wickedness spreads as quickly as the flood waters did. And God responds to this new human wickedness with more divine wickedness. Faced with the problem of sin in Sodom, he chose to incinerate the valley’s inhabitants with “fire and brimstone” (Gn 19:24). Jealous that the children of Israel were worshipping idols, he chose to murder the transgressors, commanding men to take up their swords and “kill your brothers and friends and neighbors” (Ex 32:27-29).
The biblical message is loud and clear. Violence purifies, destruction is righteous and bloodshed redeems, and this message has validated brutality for two thousand years. The idea of a punishing God justifies the violent actions of the punishing parent, authority figure, and nation.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize he said, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” King eloquently articulated the weakness of violence, describing it as “a descending spiral” which begets “the very thing it seeks to destroy.” He said that violence does not diminish evil but only multiplies it: “Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.”
God’s violence only begat more violence. He drowned the wicked but not wickedness, incinerated sinners but not sin and murdered idolators but not idolotry. As King said, violence doesn’t eliminate wickedness but multiplies it. At the very best, violence is a short term solution. To reach our full potential as human beings—as humane beings—we will have to learn to resolve problems without resorting to violence and this begins with a devotion to compassion not to the dangerous delusion called God.
Friday, October 19, 2007
shackled
Much of life is occupied with the quest for power. We seek power over pain, fear, and loneliness; over hunger, and the harsh elements, sickness, and death. These of course, are natural and healthy desires. Unfortunately, there has long been those among us that desire a toxic type of power—the power over others. It was this unhealthy desire coupled with the recognition of the power to be gained by speaking for the gods that gave rise to the very first witch doctors, magicians, and soothsayers, eventually becoming known as the priesthood.
Countless supernatural beings have been imagined, feared and worshipped. All these belief systems empowered the god’s spokesmen or Leaders at the expense of the Followers by promising some kind of benefit (health, fertility, victory) in exchange for some kind of sacrifice (blood, praise, obedience). Christianity is no different.
The Christian system demands that Followers submit to believing and obeying certain things. This requires the sacrifice of intellectual freedom in exchange for the promise of extraordinary benefits. These benefits include promises that the King of the Universe will love and protect them, listen to their every word, and even give them anything they ask for (Mt 21:21-22). Of course, the ultimate benefit is the promise of eternal life. And just in case this isn’t compelling enough to inspire submission, Jesus threatens unbelievers with the ultimate punishment— eternal pain. This promise of bliss for those who submit and obey, and misery for those who don’t, is the core of the Christian system of control—a system that creates a fog of fear, obligation and guilt that makes breaking free from the Christian community incredibly difficult.
The New Testament speaks of ‘servants’ and ‘masters’ over 150 times and yet Jesus never once condemns the evil practice of slavery. Jesus speaks of slaves being brutally whipped and even killed and cut to pieces and yet never once encourages the oppressed to seek justice. In fact, dozens of passages send the opposite message, encouraging the persecuted to turn the other cheek, love their cruel masters, pray for them, forgive them, and always remain submissive and obedient to them. Women, oppressed by both the system and men, are promised that their obedience actually makes them beautiful. The apostle Peter tells us, “For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master....” (1 P 3:5-6).
Why didn’t Jesus condemn slavery? Why did he tell the oppressed and persecuted to consider themselves “blessed” to be so? I would argue that it’s because Jesus was a mythological character whom the gospel writers made do and say what fit their agendas. The Christian belief system evolved from the Mystery religions which long predated it. Hijacked by the Roman government it was politicized. Stories originally designed to facilitate a deepening of spiritual meaning became literalized in order to enslave minds so as to control behavior, and empower Leaders at the expense of Followers.
Because so many fear death and fear thinking for themselves even more so, it seems there will always be plenty of people that are happy to play follow the religious leaders; happy to remain shackled to superstitions and sacrifice their time, money, and minds in exchange for the promise that they’ll live forever. But however “happy” individuals may be to accept delusions of the supernatural, religious leaders are in fact contributing to the unhappiness of humanity as a whole, as different religious beliefs breed divisiveness. And divisiveness leads to conflict and suffering.
Futhermore, for religious leaders to speak authoritatively about things which no one knows is dishonest. To make one’s living through dishonesty is morally repugnant. To do so by diverting people’s focus from the one life and world we are sure of, to an afterlife and an otherworld of ghosts, gods, and goblins, that we have no evidence of, is to my mind, a sort of crime against life. As Albert Camus said, if there is a sin against life, it is “in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.”
Countless supernatural beings have been imagined, feared and worshipped. All these belief systems empowered the god’s spokesmen or Leaders at the expense of the Followers by promising some kind of benefit (health, fertility, victory) in exchange for some kind of sacrifice (blood, praise, obedience). Christianity is no different.
The Christian system demands that Followers submit to believing and obeying certain things. This requires the sacrifice of intellectual freedom in exchange for the promise of extraordinary benefits. These benefits include promises that the King of the Universe will love and protect them, listen to their every word, and even give them anything they ask for (Mt 21:21-22). Of course, the ultimate benefit is the promise of eternal life. And just in case this isn’t compelling enough to inspire submission, Jesus threatens unbelievers with the ultimate punishment— eternal pain. This promise of bliss for those who submit and obey, and misery for those who don’t, is the core of the Christian system of control—a system that creates a fog of fear, obligation and guilt that makes breaking free from the Christian community incredibly difficult.
The New Testament speaks of ‘servants’ and ‘masters’ over 150 times and yet Jesus never once condemns the evil practice of slavery. Jesus speaks of slaves being brutally whipped and even killed and cut to pieces and yet never once encourages the oppressed to seek justice. In fact, dozens of passages send the opposite message, encouraging the persecuted to turn the other cheek, love their cruel masters, pray for them, forgive them, and always remain submissive and obedient to them. Women, oppressed by both the system and men, are promised that their obedience actually makes them beautiful. The apostle Peter tells us, “For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master....” (1 P 3:5-6).
Why didn’t Jesus condemn slavery? Why did he tell the oppressed and persecuted to consider themselves “blessed” to be so? I would argue that it’s because Jesus was a mythological character whom the gospel writers made do and say what fit their agendas. The Christian belief system evolved from the Mystery religions which long predated it. Hijacked by the Roman government it was politicized. Stories originally designed to facilitate a deepening of spiritual meaning became literalized in order to enslave minds so as to control behavior, and empower Leaders at the expense of Followers.
Because so many fear death and fear thinking for themselves even more so, it seems there will always be plenty of people that are happy to play follow the religious leaders; happy to remain shackled to superstitions and sacrifice their time, money, and minds in exchange for the promise that they’ll live forever. But however “happy” individuals may be to accept delusions of the supernatural, religious leaders are in fact contributing to the unhappiness of humanity as a whole, as different religious beliefs breed divisiveness. And divisiveness leads to conflict and suffering.
Futhermore, for religious leaders to speak authoritatively about things which no one knows is dishonest. To make one’s living through dishonesty is morally repugnant. To do so by diverting people’s focus from the one life and world we are sure of, to an afterlife and an otherworld of ghosts, gods, and goblins, that we have no evidence of, is to my mind, a sort of crime against life. As Albert Camus said, if there is a sin against life, it is “in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.”
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