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It has long been recognized that men make gods in their own image. Greek philosopher, Xenophenes, noted, “The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black while the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair. Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw and could sculpture like men, then horses would draw their gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and each would then shape bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind of its own.”

The Israelites, just like the Ethiopians and Thracians, created their god in their own image. Yahweh was an exalted father and they were his children. Like other parents, he took strolls in the garden and like most men, he savored the smell of cooking meat. He was also the tribal leader, who took up residence in a tent and gave the orders of when to make and break camp. He was a tailor, who made clothes out of animal skins; a ship builder, who designed the very first boat; an architect, who provided plans for buildings; an interior designer who specified fabric colors, lamp styles, artwork and placement of furnishings; a judge, who sought justice and resolved conflicts the same way his people did—with violence; an assassin, who waited at a camping place to kill Moses and a “man of war” who directed the Israeli army to commit genocide.

Though he wore many hats, in the final analysis, Yahweh was the “father” of Israel. As a father figure, he was a firm disciplinarian and sadly, like many fathers, he was physically abusive, punishing his children by hurting or killing them in myriad ways.

By recognizing our innate tendency to anthropomorphize we can purposefully dismiss these absurd thoughts and any notions that even hint of a super-human deity as being the product of our very human imagination.


Thanks for the art goes to my uber talented friend, Willie Baronet.
williebaronet.blogspot.com

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It isn’t love that fuels religion but fear. Fear of the unknown, death, loneliness and being unloved. But as Marie Curie said, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” The more our knowledge about ourselves and the universe increases, and the more compassion, love, and reality-based hope we can fill the world with, the less need there’ll be for fear-based superstitious belief systems.

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WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY PROGRAMMED THOUGHT OF THE DAY FOR AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE. EVERYONE’S FAVORITE REVEREND STAYED UP VERY LATE LAST NIGHT UNEARTHING STARTLING AND COMPELLING EVIDENCE THAT JESUS WAS NOT A UNIQUE HISTORICAL PERSON BUT SIMPLY A FICTIONAL CHARACTER BASED ON A VERY SIMILAR CHARACTER THAT PRECEDED HIM. THE WORLD (OR AT LEAST THE 3 PEOPLE WHO OCCASIONALLY VISIT THE TOTALLY RIGHTEOUS CHURCH OF REASON) SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH MONDAY, MARCH 9.

NOTE: YOU MAY WANT TO STOCK UP ON BATTERIES, WATER AND CANNED FOOD AS THERE IS NO TELLING HOW THIS EVIDENCE MAY SHAKE THE VERY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. HAVE A GOOD DAY.

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Reason and Christianity

In our modern age of science, it seems Christians are increasingly uncomfortable with merely having child-like “faith.” They want to claim their belief is reasonable. But there is nothing reasonable about talking bushes, snakes and donkeys, nor the other myriad fantastic stories of scripture. These things are, by definition, unreasonable.

Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation, understood that not only was reason incompatible with Christianity—it threatened it. He noted, “There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason, especially if she enters into spiritual matters which concern the soul and God. For it is more possible to teach a donkey to read than to blind such a reason and lead it right; for reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and … know nothing but the word of God.”

And if trampling reason, sense and understanding under foot doesn’t do the trick, Luther suggests blinding oneself to such things: “Whoever wishes to be a Christian, let him tear out the eyes of his reason.”

St. Tertullian turned reason completely upside down and inside out by claiming the more unreasonable Christianity seemed, the more reasonable it was to believe it: “And the Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed, because it is absurd. And He was buried and rose again; the fact is certain because it is impossible.”


Works Vol. 12, First Psalm Lectures, Luther's Works, Vol. 11, p.285

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There is no easier, no cheaper, no less honorable way to increase one’s power and influence than to suggest “God” is on one’s side.

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Morality

Christians speak of an “objective moral law giver” or “God” as being imperative to having a basis for morality. But a “moral law” is an oxymoron. Morality comes from within not without. It is a personal response to a particular situation, the consideration of consequences to one’s actions. It demands the best of us— wisdom, empathy, and courage not mere obedience to authority.

My friend, Jason Heatherly, shared this story about his experience with Christianity. His willingness to question authority and his courage to go against the grain of a group’s idea of goodness, is to my mind, an excellent example of true morality:

“I grew up protestant primarily because my mother’s father was a protestant preacher. My dad never really claimed a denomination, just sorta went through the motions. In High School I was involved in a christian group called young life. It's pretty popular amongst HS kids and it was mostly just to socialize for me more than anything. The summer I graduated from HS in 2001 I went to a camp in Virginia and Florida and West Virginia. It was a blast. White water rafting and the beach and the girls on the trip I didn’t mind either, but then we got to the actual camp and I sat through and listened every night to what these guys were telling me and I just couldn't buy it. It was all scare tactics.

“There was a moment out in the camp where we were to all go somewhere and sit by ourselves and “think” for 15 minutes. I sat there, and watched everyone else sitting there and thought something was off. We came back in and everyone was to pass a mic around and say they have “given their life to christ” or just pass the mic. Well, out of 500 kids, I was the only one to just pass the mic. I remember afterwards my camp leader, who was also my basketball coach, asked if I had a bible. I remember laughing a little bit.

“Since then I got really into learning more about religion, and that just turned into realizing how much sense it actually doesn‘t make. So I have been an atheist (not as outspoken as I used to be about it) for about 5 or 6 years. I have lost friends over it, had gf break up with me over it, had people tell me they feel sorry for me. Nothing actually irritates me more than the ‘religious right.’”

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“A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence.”

~ Bertrand Russell

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To presume the existence of a “Perfect God” is the pinnacle of presumptuousness; to think this God made us in his image, made the universe for us, died for us, not only loves us but desperately desires a relationship with us, talks to us, listens to us, is saddened by us, made glad by us, and suspends the laws of nature for us while intervening in the world at our request, is the very height of egotism; and to suggest all those not accepting these fanciful notions will be eternally tortured in hell is the very depth of depravity.

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On Intercessory Prayer

Walking through the woods, a father comes upon his child caught in a thorny thicket. The child is frightened, covered in blood and wincing in obvious pain but cheered by the sight of her father. The father, a gardener, has his trusty shears with him but aside from offering a few comforting words, he inexpicably does nothing more than watch her futile struggling and listen to her increasingly anguished cries for help.

Family and friends begin to worry about the missing child. They organize a search party and eventually the child is found by a young girl. Unable to free her trapped friend herself, she pleads with the father to assist her. But the father does nothing. Exasperated, the girl runs to town to get help. Many people come but no one has the proper tools. They beg the father to use his shears to free his daughter, but the father just watches the growing spectacle. Some friends keep vigil through the night and all the while beg the father to help. Others rally people from neighboring towns to talk to the father.

Finally, having listened to much heartfelt pleading, the father cuts his way through the thorns and upon reaching the now completely exhausted, whimpering child, he plunges his shears into her heart killing her. Everyone is grief stricken! But as they gather themselves they acknowledge that the father has his own plans for his daughter and they have no right to question him. The father picks up the lifeless body and carries it away to bury in the yard. Everyone rejoices! The child has gone home to be with her father, and the father, they say, is a good father.

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Test of Faith.Exodus

God is a
A. man of peace
B. man of war

God says daughters
A. are to be loved and respected
B. may be sold as slaves

Moses commanded his followers to
A. teach the world of God’s grace and mercy
B. kill family, friends, and neighbors

Ex 15:3, 21:7, 32:27-29

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The Jescebo Effect

Christians often claim that Jesus is responsible for helping save a crumbling marriage, get control of a drug or alcohol addiction, or maybe reach some goal. But what’s happening in these cases isn’t supernatural but natural. It’s not “Jesus” but the “belief” in Jesus that has power. I would call this the “Jescebo Effect ” which describes the positive feelings and results derived from the belief in Jesus or other supernatural being or religious idol.

The bible actually acknowledges this truth in Isaiah 57:10 as the LORD says, “You think your obscene idols give you strength, and so you never grow weak” demonstrating it’s not the object of belief but the belief itself that is empowering, just as it’s not the placebo pill itself but the belief in the pill’s curative powers that can trigger healing.

My friend “Janet” astutely notes, “Some people may argue that if this is the case, maybe it's a good thing. If "Jesus" can help people kick alcohol addiction, for example, isn't this constructive? I would disagree. Coming from a christian family, I have seen faith in god replace the real work of growing as a person. I had bulimia as a teenager; instead of taking me to counseling, they prayed for me. I did stop, and their "prayers were answered". However, I did not get to the root of the problem - why was I addicted in the first place. That took another 20 years, and in the meantime I succumbed to more addictions and many other problems that could have been avoided if superstitious belief in god & jesus had been replaced by scientific knowledge and common sense. I am not the only victim of this - this happens all the time.”

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Jesus vs Schweitzer

Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Albert Schweitzer, gives us a framework for understanding evil that is so beautiful in its simplicity that even a small child can grasp it: “Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm, or to hinder life is evil.”

In contrast, Jesus gives us the following thought on evil: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”
(Lk 11:24-26)

Whereas Schweitzer provides a clear, practical basis on which to live our daily lives, Jesus gives us confusing and superstitious ideas about evil spirits that are not only completely unhelpful but can be quite harmful as believers blame all manner of destructive behavior, sickness, or whatever, on supernatural “demons” rather than pinpointing natural causes.

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Biblical Inequality

Of all the sexist biblical passages elevating men above women, one of the most absurd denigrates child birth as “impure” then adds insult to injury by proclaiming that giving birth to a female is twice as impure as giving birth to a male. The good book degrades women further with the mandate that the “unclean” mother can only be cleansed by bringing offerings (lunch) to the priest (male of course).

It boggles the mind that any self-respecting woman or half-enlightened man could claim such nonsense to be the wisdom of a perfect being rather than the misogynistic madness it is.

Lv 12:1-8

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Though many claim the bible is the Word of God, there is in fact not a single sentence that rings of truth, goodness or insight into the workings of the universe that can only be explained as divine inspiration. Instead, we find nothing more than what one would expect from the minds of primitive men living several thousand years ago.

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Rainbow Post-it Notes

Science tells us that rainbows are a natural phenomenon resulting from the refraction of sunlight through water droplets, whereas the bible tells us they are a supernatural sign reminding God of his promise not to drown every child in the world—again, showing the bible to be not only incompatible with science, but incompatible with commonsense and common decency.

Gn 9:8-17

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Christian Hate Speech

Woven throughout the bible are strands of unabashed intolerance and hate. Yet we are so conditioned to accept it we rarely notice it as such. For example, a verse spouted from church pulpits and broadcast over television and radio everyday is this:

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.”

And Christian listeners everywhere smile smugly and nod in agreement over this hateful notion that is both irresponsible and erroneous.

Imagine if we just changed a few words and broadcast this message: “Christians are fools, they are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Or what if we said, “African Americans are fools, they are corrupt...” or maybe, “...there are no women that doeth good.” Oh, the outcry that would ensue! But unbelievers remain fair game for the “godly” to demonize with their hate-filled scriptures.

Ps 14:1

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Test of Faith.Mark

Jesus reminded people about the command to
A. love and protect children
B. kill children who curse their parents

Jesus referred to a mother and her sick child as
A. his precious sheep
B. dogs

Fathers who leave their children for Jesus’ sake will be
A. cursed for abandoning their families
B. rewarded with 100 times more children

Mark 7:10, 24-28, 10:29-30

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Excellent talk on virtue, wisdom, empathy...well worth 20 minutes.

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Cowardly Christ

Any average parent would lay down their life for their child. Yet when it was time for Jesus to “save” humanity from the hell of his own making via the plan of his own concocting, he prayed “fervently” to be excused, saying, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” What a cowardly character! Jesus only “saves” us because his Father wills it. If it were left to him, we’d all go to hell.

Jesus had no problem asking his followers to suffer and die for him. He had no trouble designing fiendish ways to cause ETERNAL suffering for humankind. But he did not want to be bothered with a little temporary suffering himself. Is there a greater hypocrite in all of literature? He did not go to the cross willingly and triumphantly but merely obediently... like an abused child obeying his abusive father.

Luke 22:41-44 Matthew 10:16-23, 24:9 Mark 9:48

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Happy President’s Day!

In honor of our recently retired Commander in Chief, here are a few gems of wisdom from George W. himself:

1. “The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.”

2. “If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.”

3. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

4. “No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.”

5. “I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change.”

6. “One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.”

7. “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job.”

8. “I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”

9. “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?"

10. “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."
—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

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Down is Up & Wrong is Right

Jesus is a master of double talk of the most harmful kind. He discounts people’s real emotions and replaces them with fantasy. The hungry and the weeping are not miserable he says, but “happy!” The rejected, demonized, insulted and hated are not distraught but “happy!” Such ill treatment is not cause for tears but “joy!”

And those who have enjoyed their life are to be pitied—how “terrible” for them! How “terrible” for those with food in their bellies says Jesus, for they will go hungry! And how “terrible” for those full of life and laughter, for Jesus promises their dancing will be replaced with mourning! Praise God!

These words were put in the mouth of the Jesus character for one purpose—to keep the downtrodden down. To keep the poor and oppressed from rising up and changing their circumstances. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."

Luke 6:20-26

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Happy Lupercalia Day!

Like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, the origins of Valentine’s Day can be traced back to our pagan past. From February 13-15, the ancient Romans honored the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, in a celebration called Lupercalia. In addition to great feasts, the festivities included the coupling of young women with men who would draw women’s names from a box, pairing them up until the next year’s celebration.

One legend has it that a priest named Valentine disobeyed Emperor Claudius II’s decree that soldiers remain bachelors (Claudius thought the soldiers would be more focused on killing if not distracted by wives) by secretly performing marriage ceremonies. Valentine was imprisoned where he fell in love with his jailor’s daughter. Before being executed (beheaded) on February 14, 269, he wrote a letter to his new love which he signed ‘From your Valentine’. He was later named a saint.

Seizing the opportunity to establish yet another Christian holiday while destroying a pagan one, Pope Gelasius declared Lupercalia immoral and renamed the holiday St. Valentine’s Day. And the tradition of picking a sex partner out of a box was replaced with picking the name of a saint. Oh, fun.

Did you know? There are over 10,000 saints and Valentine is the patron saint of not only love, but bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, and plague. Ah plague, now that’s romantic!

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Is God Love?

Christians— at least the kinder, gentler ones—will often say “God is love.” Like a good corporate slogan, this phrase is short and sweet and warms the heart. But as nice as it sounds, it’s untrue.

Here are a few fundamental differences between the bibleGod’s “love” and Real Love:

God places conditions on his favor, demanding submission and obedience; Real Love is unconditional, desiring equality and mutual respect.

God is fearsome, threatening physical abuse in this life and beyond the grave; Real Love is the antithesis of fear, wishing only the very best for another.

God merely promises heaven; Real Love IS heaven, here and now.


Lv 26:14-39, Mk 16:16, 9:47-48

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Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln! Both born on this date in 1809

“I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”

~ Charles Darwin


“Mr. Lincoln was never a member of any Church, nor did he believe in the divinity of Christ, or the inspiration of the Scriptures in the sense understood by evangelical Christians.

When a boy, he showed no sign of that piety which his many biographers ascribe to his manhood. When he went to church at all, he went to mock, and came away to mimic.

When he came to New Salem, he consorted with Freethinkers, joined with them in deriding the gospel story of Jesus, read Volney and Paine, and then wrote a deliberate and labored essay, wherein he reached conclusions similar to theirs.”

~ Colonel Ward H. Lamon (a religionist and Lincoln’s longtime friend)

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The LORD of Hypocrisy

Common sense says murdering and stealing from our neighbors is seriously detrimental to the stability of society. But as Christians are apt to say, “the LORD’s ways are not our ways” and this is evident in the following instructions:

“As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.”

Following these instructions, the Israelites, with the help of the LORD who fought beside them, crushed the Hagrites and they took 2,000 donkeys, 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep and 100,000 people for themselves. When the LORD had his people slaughter the Midianites they made off with 61,000 donkeys, 72,000 cattle, 675,000 sheep and goats, and 32,000 virgins (one is left to imagine how the faithful determined virginity). And then there was the 200,000 women and children taken from the people of Judea along with large amounts of loot. These are but three of dozens of such holy crime sprees boasted of in the good book.

If we tally the carnage from just these, we have a staggering sum of over a million animals pillaged, over a quarter of a million people enslaved and countless more butchered. Only the LORD knows how many young girls had their innocence stolen by “godly” men with blood-stained hands. And all this thievery and murder was commanded and aided by the LORD of Hypocrisy who so famously said, “Do not steal” and “Do not commit murder.”

Dt 20:10-14, 1 Ch 5:21, Nu 31:32-35, 2 Ch 28:8

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“I quit [going to church] because I came to believe that what is preached in the churches is mainly untrue and unimportant, tiresome, hostile to genuine progress, and in general not worth while. As for the necessity of paying homage to the deity, I began to feel that I did not know enough about God to pay him set compliments on set days. As for the God who is preached in the churches, I ceased to worship him because I could no longer believe in him or respect what is alleged of him. I cannot respect a deity who would want or even endure the hideous monotony and mechanism of most of the worship paid him by hired men, hired prayer-makers and their supporters.”

“As for those who protest that I am robbing people of the great comfort and consolation they gain from Christianity, I can only say that Christianity includes hell, eternal torture for the vast majority of humanity, for most of your relatives and friends. Christianity includes a devil who is really more powerful than God, and who keeps gathering into his furnaces most of the creatures whom God turns out and for whom he sent his son to the cross in vain. If I could feel that I had robbed anybody of his faith in hell, I should not be ashamed or regretful.”

~ Rupert Hughes, “Why I Quit Going to Church,” 1924

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Christianity & Cannibalism

The Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is deeply rooted in cannibalism. Not only did our ancestors consume the bodies of vanquished enemies and the deceased members of their own community in the hope of gaining their power, in a practice called theophagy, they consumed the body and blood of their god (sometimes in the form of a human proxy).

The notion of a sacred meal shared by a god and his followers (such as found with the Christian Last Supper) was a concept prevalent throughout the ancient world. The Catholic Encyclopedia says this about the Mystery religions: “There was usually the meal of mystic foods— grains of all sorts at Eleusis, bread and water in the cult of Mithra, wine (Dionysus), milk and honey (Attis), raw bull’s flesh in the Orphic Dionysus-Zagreus cult.” Christian father Firmicus Maternus wrote that the followers of Liber (aka Dionysus, or Bacchus) believe “he was intercepted and killed,” and his murderers, “chopped his members up into pieces and...devoured them.” An event which his worshipers celebrate in “recurring sacred rites celebrated every two years,” in which, “They tear a live bull with their teeth, representing the cruel banquet [ at which the God was eaten.]”

The gospel writers simply borrowed these ideas and had Jesus say, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” ( Jn 6:53-56)

It came to dawn on the Catholic Church that this passage posed a difficult problem. Here we have Jesus himself proclaiming eternal life came only by consuming his flesh and blood—not bread and wine. So how to resolve this dilemma? Magic of course!

On October 11, 1551, the Council of Trent, decreed “By the consecration of the bread and of the wine a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood; which conversion is by the holy Catholic Church suitably and properly called transubstantiation.”

Shazam! Transubstantiation! Problem solved. What looked, smelled and tasted like ordinary bread and wine was now the real flesh and blood of God himself. And not just a portion of flesh— not just a thigh or finger but everything—liver, spleen, heart, bowels, testes, eyes, hair. It was nothing short of Holy Jesus Sausage. And Catholics seemingly swallowed this idea as easily as they did the immaculate conception (another borrowed idea). However, Frederick the Great was one who found the idea a “repulsive and blasphemous absurdity” and in a letter to Voltaire said, “This is the most disgusting dogma of Christian religion, the greatest insult to the Highest Being, the climax of madness and insanity.”

For hundreds of millions of people to think a cracker is the flesh of an invisible mangod and to happily wash this down with what is believed to be blood can only be understood as mass insanity—at least temporary insanity. And though Protestants may see the holy sacrament as merely symbolic, it nonetheless symbolizes a repulsive cannibalistic act.

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Test of Faith. Joshua

Upon entering the city of Jericho, God’s people
A. shared a message of hope and forgiveness
B. killed everyone, men and women, young and old

God made the sun stand still while his people
A. distributed food and clothing
B. committed genocide

Needing a place to live, God’s people
A. searched for uninhabited land flowing with milk and honey
B. attacked a city, killed its people, and claimed it for themselves

Joshua 6:20-21, 10:12-14, 19:47

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Think your own thoughts, make your own way!

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The Image of God

The bible says man was made in the image of God. Or does it?

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...”

That’s an “us” and two “ours” clearly written by men still holding to polytheistic notions. But what’s troubling isn’t the number but the nature of this God(s). This is a character who’s very name is “Jealous.” What an unflattering image! So jealous is this character it demands the killing of family and friend for praying to a different god. And this character isn’t a Peacemaker but a “man of war.” Is there a more ugly image than war? Well yes, torture is an even uglier image than war, and Jesus himself gives us this despicable image:

“... In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you...”

Maniacally Jealous, a Man of War, a Cruel Jailer. Is it wise to teach children they are made in the image of such a fiend?

Gn 1:26, Ex 15:3, 34:14, Mt 18:33-35

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Christianity and Human Sacrifice

There are few things more objectionable to modern sensibilities than human sacrifice. Yet the ritualistic slaying of humans in honor of a deity was not just an ancient “pagan” practice but that of the Israelites as well. Like many of the more unsavory parts of the bible, the story of Jepthah’s daughter is not often preached to congregations on sunny Sunday mornings so I have included it here for those unfamiliar with it:

“Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah....And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." ...and the LORD gave [the Ammonites] into his hands. ... When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break." "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry." "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.” (Judges 11:29-39)

Carol A. Valentine comments on the brutality of the story: “In payment for victory, Jephthah promises LORD God he will sacrifice the first ‘whatsoever’ that comes from his house to greet him upon his return. Unless Jephthah keeps oxen, sheep, goats, or chickens in his living room, he must expect the promised victim will be a human being. …We suspect Jephthah plans to sacrifice one of his servants. But when the ‘whatsoever’ turned out to be Jephthah’s daughter, Jephthah is surprised. Notice his daughter’s reaction: She expresses no surprise that LORD God would accept a human sacrifice, nor does she protest; …The Old Testament does not specify how Jephthah sacrifices his daughter, but following the correct methods for animal sacrifice, he would slit her throat first and drain her blood into a Temple service vessel; cut off her arms, legs, and head; cut the torso in sections, remove her entrails and wash them; pour, sprinkle, and smear her blood at prescribed points around the altar; and burn the flesh. Or of course, a priest might do this for him.”

There are numerous other texts supporting the fact the Christian God enjoyed a good human sacrifice. He tests Abraham who, like Jepthah’s daughter, is unsurprised by the request that he sacrifice a human. In a bizarre passage, God admits to making bad commands that “do not bring life” and shows his people he is LORD by letting them sacrifice their children (Ez 20:26). Yeah, that will show them! And there is what could be called the Human Sacrifice Law that actually commands that any human unconditionally dedicated to him must be put to death (Lv 27:28-29).

The sacrifice of Jesus is but the evolution of the ridiculous superstition that a “scape goat” could take away the sins of the people (Lv 16:20-22). And though few Christians see it as such, the crucifix is a symbol of the ugly ritual of human sacrifice that reaches back into our darkest days.

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Lord of Violence

The bible is not a book overflowing with love and kindness but a book dripping with blood. In fact, there are accounts of well over a million people being slain in the Old Testament alone. Blood is spilled by knife, sword, spear and stone. It’s spilled by beheading, eye gouging, gang rape, dismemberment, mutilation, cannibalism, animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, mass execution, and holy war after bloody holy war. To list every perpetrator and victim of murder and mayhem from A-Z would be overkill so I will spare you the gore beyond A:

Abel was murdered by Cain.

Abihu and his brother were burned up by the LORD.

Abijah and his army slaughtered five hundred thousand people.

Abimelech slew his 70 brothers on top of a stone and burned 1,000 men and women alive.

Abinadab was killed along with his brothers and father and their bodies were nailed to a wall.

Abiram died “according to the message from the LORD.”

Abishai became famous for spearing three hundred men.

Abner was murdered by Joab.

Abram (Abraham) armed hundreds of his servants and attacked his enemy at night “and smote them.”

Absalom had three spears thrust through his heart.

Achan and his children were stoned and burned as the LORD brought trouble upon them.

Adalia, Aridai, Aridatha, Aspatha and the rest of Haman’s sons were among over 75,000 people killed during several days of slaughter by the Jews who “struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them,” and their bodies were hung from the gallows for public display.

Adonijah was murdered by Benaiah on the orders of Solomon.

Adoni-Bezek had his thumbs and big toes cut off after being captured during the slaughter of 10,000 men by the people of Judah when “the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands.”

Adonizedek and his fellow Amorite kings were killed and hung from trees after the LORD had their people slaughtered by the sword and beaten to death by holy hailstones. So hated were these people that the LORD is said to have “obeyed” Joshua and stopped the sun in the sky to shed more light on the carnage.

Adrammelech murdered his own father “with the sword” for worshipping the wrong god.

Agag was executed by Samuel, who cut him into pieces “before the LORD.”

Ahab was killed with an arrow and dogs licked his blood out of the floor of his chariot, “just as the LORD had promised.”

Ahaz was handed over to the king of Aram by the LORD who defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners.

Ahaziah was told by the LORD: “You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”

Ahijah had a message for Jeroboam that the LORD would bring disaster on his dynasty and “kill all your sons, slave or free alike.”

Ahimelech was among 85 priests murdered after Saul shouted, "You will surely die...along with your entire family!”

Ahithophel comitted suicide by hanging himself.

The entire population of Ai was chased down and butchered as the “LORD” gave the city to Joshua. Over 12,000 men and women perished and the king of Ai was hung from a tree as his city was burned to the ground.

The Amalekites were slaughtered when the LORD gave instructions to attack them and “totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

Amasa was murdered when a dagger was “plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground.”

Amaziah killed ten thousand Edomite troops and threw another 10,000 captured men off a cliff, “dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.”

Ammiel’s life was snuffed out by the LORD with a plague.

Amnon raped his virgin sister, Tamar, then was killed by Absalom’s men.

Amon was murdered by his own servants.

The Anakim were a race of giants apparently too tall to live and were slaughtered in the name of the LORD.

Arad, Achshaph, Adullam and Aphek all had their kingdoms crushed and their people slaughtered by invading Israelites.

Armoni was executed when David handed him over to the people of Gibeon and they hanged him “in the mountain before the LORD.”

Asa and his army crushed the Cushite’s before the LORD, destroying all the villages around Gerar and plundering all the villages.

Asahel was killed when the butt of a spear was thrust into his stomach and came out through his back.

And finally, Athaliah was brutally murdered when Jehoiada the priest gave the orders to ‘Take her out of the Temple, and kill anyone who tries to rescue her.”

Biblical stories of heavenly angels, divinely appointed kings, God’s chosen ones and God himself all solving conflict through deadly force has profoundly poisoned our thinking by legitimizing our acceptance of violence. This will remain so until the Bible is seen for what it is—not the Word of God but merely the words of violent men claiming to speak for said God.

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Better to ask good questions than have the right answers.

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Forget everything I have ever said about there not being a God.

There is in fact a God. Miracles do indeed happen.

And God’s name is Big Ben and his miracle worker is Santonio Holmes.

Steelers win! Steelers win! Steelers win!

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

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Super Bowl Sunday!

Big Ben, Willie, Heath, Hines, and Santonio will be ringing up the points and that number one ranked D led by my boy Troy Polamalu, the most beastly safety ever to play the game (despite his neurotically incessant Catholic crossing of himself) will be punishing the Cardinals all over the field. The Steelers are clearly the superior and more deserving team, so if they somehow lose it will be irrefutable proof that there is no God. So I win either way.

Prediction: Steelers 31, Cardinals 20.
More importantly, Steelers 6 Super Bowl Trophies, Dallas 5.

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Test of Faith.Psalms

Serve God with fear or
A. your nights will be long
B. you’ll suddenly die

The righteous are joyful to
A. do what is right
B. wade through the blood of the wicked

Happy are those that take babies and
A. teach them the ways of the LORD
B. smash their heads against rocks

Psalm 2:11, 58:10, 137:9


“In some of the Psalms the spirit of hatred which strikes us in the face is like the heat from a furnace mouth. In others the same spirit ceases to be frightful only by becoming (to a modern mind) almost comic in its naivety.

“Examples of the first can be found all over the Psalter, but perhaps the worst is in 109. The poet prays that an ungodly man may rule over his enemy and that “Satan” may stand at his right hand (5). This probably does not mean what a Christian reader naturally supposes. The “Satan” is an accuser, perhaps an informer. When the enemy is tried, let him be convicted and sentenced, “and let his prayer be turned into sin” (6). This again means, I think, not his prayers to God, but his supplications to a human judge, which are to make things all the hotter for him (double the sentence because he begged for it to be halved). May his days be few, may his job be given to someone else (7). When he is dead may his orphans be beggars (9). May he look in vain for anyone in the world to pity him (11). Let God always remember against him the sins of his parents (13). Even more devilish in one verse is the, otherwise beautiful, 137 where a blessing is pronounced on anyone who will snatch up a babylonian baby and beat its brains out against the pavement (9). And we get the refinement of malice in 69, 23, “Let their table be made a snare to take themselves withal; and let the things that should have been for their wealth be unto them an occassion of falling.

“The examples which (in me at any rate) can hardly fail to produce a smile may occur most disquietingly in Psalms we love; 143, after proceeding for eleven verses in a strain that brings tears to the eyes, adds in the twelfth, almost like an after-thought “and of thy goodness slay mine enemies”. Even more naively, almost childishly, 139, in the middle of its hymn of praise throws in (19) (Wilt thou slay the wicked, O God?”—as if it were surprising that such a simple remedy for human ills had not occurred to the Almighty. Worst of all in “The Lord is my shepherd” (23), after the green pasture, the waters of comfort, the sure confidence in the valley of the shadow, we suddenly run across (5) “Thou shalt prepare a table for me against them that trouble me”—or, as Dr. Moffatt translates it, Thou art my host, spreading a feast for me while my enemies look on.” … This may not be as diabolical as the passages I have quoted above; but the pettiness and vulgarity of it, especially in such surroundings, are hard to endure.”

~ C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, pg 20-21

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God & Gays

“There is...a widely accepted mentality that if the Bible is opposed, the idea must be wrong. That is little more than nonsensical fundamentalism. The rise of democracy was contrary to the "clear teaching of the Bible," as the debate over the forced signing of the Magna Carta by King John of England in 1215 revealed. The Bible was quoted to prove that Galileo was wrong; that Darwin was wrong; that Freud was wrong; that allowing women to be educated, to vote, to enter the professions and to be ordained was wrong. So the fact that the Bible is quoted to prove that homosexuality is evil and to be condemned is hardly a strong argument, given the history of how many times the Bible has been wrong. I believe that most bishops know this but the Episcopal Church has some fundamentalist bishops and a few who are "fellow travelers" with fundamentalists.

“The Bible was written between the years 1000 B.C.E. and 135 C.E. Our knowledge of almost everything has increased exponentially since that time. It is the height of ignorance to continue using the Bible as an encyclopedia of knowledge to keep dying prejudices intact. The media seems to cooperate in perpetuating that long ago abandoned biblical attitude.

“That is not surprising since the religious people keep quoting it to justify their continued state of unenlightenment. That attitude is hardly worthy of the time it takes to engage it. I do not debate with members of the flat earth society either. Prejudices all die. The first sign that death is imminent comes when the prejudice is debated publicly. The tragedy is that church leaders back the wrong side of the conflict, which is happening today from the Pope to the Archbishop of Canterbury to the current crop of Evangelical leaders. That too will pass and the debate on homosexuality will be just one more embarrassment in Christian history.”

~ John Shelby Spong

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Creatures Great and Small

Ghandi said “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Immanuel Kant voiced the similar sentiment that “we can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” So what can be said about the morality of ancient Israel and the heart of its God?

This God seemed quite devoid of empathy for the suffering of animals. He sent swirling holy water to swallow the flailing and terrified. He followed this slaughter of all slaughters with massive fish and frog kills and visited suffering and deadly diseases upon horses, camels, sheep and the like. He has animals cower and die under holy hail and heaven sent fire and brimstone.

He also commands man to kill in his name—to stone animals, break the necks of calves and donkeys and to twist the heads off of doves. He likes his bull’s throats slit, their blood drained and thrown against his red stained altar, their skin peeled off, their body cut into pieces, their organs washed, their heads burned. And since this God’s taste for barbeque was not easily satisfied, he ordered such brutality to continue forever.

Kant made the connection that those who are cruel to animals are likewise hard in their dealings with men. In his book, In Defense of Animals, Peter Singer writes, “In an earlier stage of our development most human groups held to a tribal ethic. Members of the tribe were protected, but people of other tribes could be robbed or killed as one pleased. Gradually the circle of protection expanded, but as recently as 150 years ago we did not include blacks. So African human beings could be captured, shipped to America and sold. In Australia white settlers regarded Aborigines as a pest and hunted them down, much as kangaroos are hunted down today. Just as we have progressed beyond the blatantly racist ethic of the era of slavery and colonialism, so we must now progress beyond the speciesist ethic of the era of factory farming, of the use of animals as mere research tools, of whaling, seal hunting, kangaroo slaughter and the destruction of wilderness. We must take the final step in expanding the circle of ethics.”

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A little levity :) This is so me.

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The God of Christianity is a God of Contradiction.

This God makes killing sinners The Law (Lv 20:10). Then contradicts himself by chastising the Law-abiding and pardoning the Lawless (Jn 8:1-1). To add to the confusion, despite breaking his own Law, he says The Law is to remain in effect unto the end of time (Mt 5:17-20). Huh?

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Speaking for God

The LORD’s first priests enjoyed a priveledged lifestyle as his ordained messengers. They dressed in magnificent priestly garments that included embroidered robes, shirts, turbans and sashes of colored wool and fine linen. They ornamented themselves with gold, diamonds and other precious stones and perfumed themselves with their own private cologne made from the finest spices. Everything in Israel that was unconditionally dedicated to the LORD belonged to the priests. They took the choicest cuts of meat from the offerings and the greater portions of flour and oil, baked breads and wine. They issued fines and collected tithes, taxes, fees and “protection” money from their people to ensure the LORD watched over them. When a field was released in the Jubilee, it became the property of the priests. They accumulated booty including young virgins from vanquished enemies. It was very good to be a priest.

The priests wrote in their holy books that the LORD was Jealous. But it wasn’t the LORD who was jealous of other gods but the priests, who’s lifestyles were threatened by the competition. And it wasn’t the LORD that was all powerful but his spokesmen. Thomas Paine said organized religion was “set up to terrify and enslave” and to “monopolize power and profit” and this is exactly what we see in the bible. Less interested in advancing the human condition than maintaining their power, they ruled with an iron fist. In fact, violence was the priest’s solution to most every problem. Those failing to obey their decisions, walking too close to Yahweh’s Tent, performing priestly functions or touching sacred objects were all killed. Prophets speaking false messages (anything that undermined the priests’ authority) were seized and their own parents were commanded to stab them to death. Priests wrote laws permitting a man to sell his daughter into slavery, stone his son and chop off his wife’s hand. They burned their own daughters for promiscuity and brides unable to prove their virginity were ordered to be stoned to death by all the men of the city. The entire community was commanded to partake in the killing of any man’s brother, child, wife or friend who suggested worshipping other gods. Anyone thinking or acting outside the priest’s narrow boundaries was cast out or killed. The priests made intolerance a holy duty and sanctified violence in the home, community and on the battlefield as well.

Thankfully, the power of religious leaders has been restrained by secular laws. And though most surely mean well, those that speak authoritatively about unknowable things—about the Islamic Paradise and awaiting virgins, the Christian Hell and flesh eating worms or the Scientologist’s Xenu and his alien interventions—mislead people and for that reason are a menace to clear and rational thought.


Lv 21:9, 7:31-34, 27:21, Nu 31:32-46, 3:10, Zec 13:2-3, Ex 30:12,15-16, 21:7, Dt 25:11-12, 22:20-21, 13:6-10 21:18-21, 17:12,

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Being spiritual needn’t have anything to do with belief in invisible beings. The word spirit comes from the Latin "spiritus" which means "to breath," to be alive. We are spiritual to the extent we are full of life—full of joy and wonder, full of spirit.

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Anti-Intellectualism

Jesus praised God for hiding his message “from the wise and intelligent” and revealing it to the uneducated or those with minds he likened to an infant’s or small child’s. And he said it is not those possessing the mind of an adult but only those with child-like ones that will enter heaven.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the most influential Christian of his time, thought the pursuit of knowledge was “vile” unless “sanctified by a holy mission” and St. Augustine described “curiosity” as a “disease.” He said, “it is this which drives us to discover the secrets of nature, these secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which man should not wish to learn.” Imagine if Plato, Galileo, Pasteur, Darwin, Edison, Einstein and all the countless men and women who have conquered diseases and improved our lives with their thoughts, discoveries, and inventions would have embraced such an anti-intellectual position! Arthur Schopenhauer said it well, “All religions promise a reward for excellences of the will or heart, but none for excellences of the head or understanding.” And H.L. Mencken said, “Not by accident does Genesis III make the father of knowledge a serpent—slimy, sneaking and abominable. Since the earliest days the church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions. It was, for centuries, an apologist for slavery, as it was an apologist for the divine right of kings.”

Lk 10:21, Mt 18:3

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Test of Faith. Isaiah

Horrible, painful diseases are something
A. Satan sent to cause great suffering
B. God sent to cause great suffering

God sent armies of men to
A. feed the hungry and rebuild Jerusalem after the Great Earthquake
B. stab people, bash babies and rape wives in front of their husbands

God says the world will know he is LORD by making people
A. love each other
B. kill each other

Isaiah 10:16, 13:14-18, 50:26

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Just love this video. Though technically, we’re apes not monkeys...

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“Biblical Morality”

The phrase “biblical morality” is an oxymoron—absurd as the phrase “immoral morality.” That is unless one thinks it moral to beat a child with a rod, offer a child as a sacrifice or drown every child in the world; moral to stone sons to a lifeless bloody pulp, roast daughters over a raging fire or sell them as sex slaves to the horny old man down the road; moral to kill homosexuals, kill “witches” and kill one’s own family and friends who pray to the wrong god; moral to take young girls as “wives” after butchering their families and torching their homes; moral to plunder towns of all their valuables, burn books, cripple horses, commit genocide, chop off the hands and feet and heads of foes and cut fetuses out of their mother’s bellies; and moral to keep people alive beyond the grave with the sole intent of inflicting unimaginable suffering upon them forever and ever and ever...

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Inauguration Day

When Barack Obama is sworn into office today it will be a truly historic moment worthy of unbridled celebration. The unfortunate part of the ceremony will be the mixing of church and state through the use of a bible and prayers uttered by religious leaders. These symbols unnecessarily alienate and divide us, leaving many tens of millions of citizens with different religious beliefs or none at all, feeling like we don’t quite belong. Someday a President will have the courage and common sense to break with these unjust traditions and begin new traditions that exclude no one on the basis of their belief or non-belief in invisible beings in the sky.

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Happy MLK Day!

“There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“It took me years, but letting go of religion has been the most profound wake up of my life. I feel I now look at the world not as a child, but as an adult. I see what's bad and it’s really bad. But I also see what is beautiful, what is wonderful. And I feel so deeply appreciative that I am alive. How dare the religious use the term ‘born again.’ That truly describes freethinkers who’ve thrown off the shackles of religion so much better!”

~ Julia Sweeney

www.juliasweeney.com/letting_go_mini/

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The Stoning of Soraya M.

There are times I get so beaten down by reading the bible I could almost cry. Sometimes its wickedness literally makes me sick to my stomach. Try reading the following verse and imagining the “damsel” to be your mother, daughter, sister or friend, or perhaps yourself.

“But if... the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die...” Dt 22:20-21

My guess is your natural sense of decency won’t allow yourself to fully picture the horror of such a scene. The bloodthirstiness of the men, the self righteousness of the community, the fear and suffering of the young woman. Let me help you. Fereydoune Sahebjam, who recently died at the age of 75, was a respected journalist and war correspondent. He had been condemned to death by the Khomeini regime for his writings, which included the book, “The Stoning of Soraya M.”, a true story of a modern Iranian woman wrongly accused of a crime and stoned to death. It offers a glimpse into the barbaric life of the ancient Israelites by bringing to life all too vividly the “holy” scripture above. And shows how the belief in the Abrahamic God continues to cause incredible suffering throughout the world today.

“The mayor took a stone and handed it to Soraya’s father: “It is to you,” he said, “that befalls the honor of throwing the first stone....” The old man set his cane down on the ground and took the large stone in his hand. He gave thanks to God, drew his arm back and, as he threw the stone with all his might in the direction of his daughter, he shouted: “Allah be praised!.... There, whore, take that!” ....Then it was Ghorban-Ali's turn. He had rolled up his sleeves and had four rocks neatly piled next to his feet. He waited for the mayor's signal. “Your turn, my boy,” the mayor said to him affectionately, “and may God guide your arm.” ....The crowd was screaming hysterically now, and there were ripples of applause from the men. The shadow of a smile flitted across Ghorban-Ali's face; he picked up another stone, aimed more carefully, and threw it as hard as he could. This time the stone struck the woman on the forehead, just at the hairline. The skin burst open, blood began to trickle down her face, as Soraya's head jerked violently backward.... Now the stones were flying thick and fast, piling up on the ground around them. And there, only a few feet in front of them, was a head whose face they never saw, a head that kept bobbing to and fro in time to the stones that were striking it....Finally it was Sheik Hassan's turn. He put his Qur'an in his left hand and, with his right, picked up a large stone. But before he threw he turned back to the crowd and said with great bombast: “I am not the one who is throwing this stone....It is God who is guiding my arm....It is he who commands me…“I shall throw as many stones as it takes to kill this bitch” ....In the center of the circle, Soraya was slowly expiring. Her head and chest were little more than a shapeless mass of bloody flesh. The noisy crowd, completely out of control, broke ranks and moved in even closer, ready for the kill. Her scalp was nothing more than a gaping wound; her jaw had exploded; her eyes and nose burst open. Her head drooped at a grotesque angle, like some bizarre carnival mask, over what remained of her right shoulder. In the front row, Hassan, his robe spattered with blood, raised his arm and called for silence. “My dear friends....I believe that God has done his work. I believe that his will has been done. Would someone like to check and make certain the harlot is dead?” Several men raised their hands. Hassan picked Said the well digger. The man lay down on the ground right next to the victim and put his ear close to Soraya's open mouth. “She's still alive....The bitch still hasn't croaked,”…

The book is currently being made into a movie. www.thestoning.com/trailer.html

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Miracles

To me there are two kinds of miracles. One kind are those fantastic stories of holy scripture—disembodied hands that write on walls, talking donkeys and fireballs from heaven that burn young and old to a crisp. The other kind is the miracle of reality—the miracle of blue skies, sex, chocolate, beer, children’s laughter, love...

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Life & Death

Living fully requires living fearlessly. This makes coming to terms with death one of the most important things we can do. Christianity would have us fear death, fear Satan and Jesus himself tells us to “fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. Believe me, he is the one you must fear!” These primitive toxic notions poison life.

But there is no need to fear death. No need to fear what cannot touch us. Epicurus said it best, “Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.” And Mark Twain expressed the same sentiment like only he could: “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

Another way to look at death is to recognize our connection to all that exists. Science tells us that atoms are so fantastically durable that it’s thought they can last nearly forever. This means we are made of practically indestructible eternal stuff. In his wonderful book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson writes, “Because they are so long lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way of becoming you. We are so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms—up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested—probably once belonged to Shakespeare. A billion more came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you name. (The personages have to be historical, apparently, as it takes the atoms some decades to become thoroughly redistributed; however much you may wish it, you are not yet one with Elvis Presley.)”

So though our consciousness most likely ceases upon death, in a sense, our journey will continue beyond our wildest imaginations.

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Test of Faith.Hosea

God told his people he would
A. surround them with love and blessings
B. attack them like a lion and tear them to pieces

God told his people he would
A. nurture their beloved children
B. kill their beloved children

God’s punishments include
A. 40 days of fasting and bible study
B. having babies heads smashed and pregnant women ripped open

Hosea 5:14, 9:15-16, 13:16

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Evil, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Smashing a mosquito can produce such a sense of satisfaction—joy even—that we’ve rid the world of a blood-sucking, disease-carrying demon. Of course, to the mosquito, we’re the demon.

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“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

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What’s more likely?

We can say nothing of the heart and mind nor even existence of invisible things—of sprites and fairies and goblins and gods, but we are all too familiar with the heart and mind of man. So let us simply ask ourselves what is most reasonable to believe about the bible.

When the married couple, Ananias and Sapphira, dared keep a portion of the money garnered from a private sale rather than giving every cent to the church they were immediately killed in Peter’s office. The writer would have us believe an invisible hand from heaven struck down this couple, but is it not more likely it was the hand of man—that perhaps Peter himself acted out in anger? (Acts 5:1-10) Or knowing Paul’s penchant for zealot religious persecution, is it more likely an invisible holy spirit blinded Elymas or that an incensed Paul who had just demonized Elymas as "a child of the devil” did so? (Acts 13:10-11)

Is it more likely that an invisible being told Moses to “kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors” for the crime of worshipping another god or that Moses did so to strengthen his position of power as Yahweh’s spokesman? (Ex 32:25-29)

Is it more likely that an invisible being deemed selling daughters into life-long slavery acceptable or that men did? And is it more likely that an invisible being repeatedly rained suffering upon humans with all manner of disasters and diseases or that the writers of such stories were simply ignorant of the workings of nature? (Dt 28:58-59, Zec 14:12, 2 S 24:15)

Is it more likely the often vengeful, bigoted, misogynistic, ignorant, slave-happy and a million other ways bloodthirsty and superstitious stories found in the bible are the revelations of a perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful, benevolent invisible being which we have absolutely no evidence of, or the ramblings of primitive men?

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“I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being...

“I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil--you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.”

~Dan Barker
Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist

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“I think now, that death is our natural state, it’s where most of us are, most of the time, libraries, cemeteries, memories are filled with our dead….but being alive…the power of that on this earth, the power of living beings—makes me think the earth is some fairy dusted kingdom to house such a thing as life. The next time I go see ‘my’ patient, I am comfortably captivated by her presence and my being there. I read a Dylan Thomas poem not about that whole not going gently into the dying light…no, no…just a poem about live things, like the sea and birds and grasses and fishermen…the light of day, the end of summer…the stillness of winter, the coming Spring…”

~ Words from my wise and wonderful sister, Sandi Fish, inspired by her first official hospice assignment last week.

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We will only become fully human—fully humane— when we overcome our primitive instinct to divide the world, when there’s no longer a “them”, no “other”—just “we”.

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First and Last Words

According to the bible, Mary and Joseph knew that they were to be the parents of God’s child —and according to Christian doctrine—God himself. Think about it. Parents of God. Wow! You would think they would’ve recorded each and every baby God word, every toddler God word and every teenage God word—well maybe not all the teenage God words.

But surely we know exactly what Jesus said before dying on the cross. And anyway, these words from the mouth of an adult God would seem even more important than words uttered from a baby God. Let us turn to his “inerrant” Word.

Both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus’ last words were, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?” (How exactly God abandoned himself is not explained).

The Gospel of Luke says Jesus’ last words before dying were, “Father! In your hands I place my spirit!” Not only completely different words but totally opposite notions as well. In the one story, Jesus is alone, actually abandoned by God. In the other story, Jesus and God are involved in the most intimate of transactions.

The Gospel of John casts yet more doubt on the reliability of the scriptures as he writes that Jesus’ last words were “It is finished!”

Add to these inconsistencies the fact the bible contradicts itself on the year Jesus was born, the fact the five different accounts of the supposed resurrection defy harmonization and the fact we do not even know who wrote the gospels and we are left not with consistent reasonable historical accounts from respected historians but a mishmash of contradictions from anonymous authors.

thought of the day.176

Christianity asserts we are so inherently wretched as to be deserving of unimaginable torture forever and ever. In stark contrast, science shows we are not fallen but risen—not children of a jealous and bloodthirsty god, but children of the stars and inextricably connected to all that exists.

Thought of the day.175

Christians often argue that atheism is a religion. It is not. Atheists do not necessarily have one thought in common with another other than lack of belief in a god or gods.

If atheism is a religion than everyone is a member of countless religions sharing a lack of belief in such things as invisible pink unicorns and polka dotted moon monkeys.

thought of the day.174

Shouldn’t we question the intelligence of a god who deems incest the best way to populate a world?

thought of the day.173

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Every Christian I have asked unhesitatingly answers that they can’t wait for Jesus to return. Most seem positively giddy about the idea. I would suggest these believers have either not read their bible very carefully or else have little compassion for others.

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 and wielding an iron rod. 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. D.H. Lawrence describes the writer’s lust for blood and destruction in the second half of Revelation as “flamboyant hate.” Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Even if we ignore the psychotic ravings of Revelation that promise a slaughter of over two billion men, women and children if Jesus returned today and focus on the Gospels, we see a horrifying vision of the return of the “Prince of Peace.” Jesus says when he comes again it will be just like in the time of Noah when the flood came and “killed them all.” And like the time of Lot when fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and “killed them all.” “That” says sweet Jesus, is how it will be when he returns (Lk 17:22-30). Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Rather than uniting humanity, Christianity divides us to such a degree that believers gladly accept the suffering of others—actually look forward to it— as long as they hold a ticket to heaven. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Thought of the day.172

Not a single historian alive at the time that Jesus is said to have lived records his existence. Not one. This is because the Jesus of the bible was a character of the imagination built upon mythological themes that long predated the Christian stories.

thought of the day.171

Atheist Spirituality

“The business of human beings is to be alive. Death is not our affair. Our job is to learn, grow, dance, sing, have sex, play with, enjoy and teach our children and grandchildren, and to love one another--especially love one another. Love is the finest thing we do. When we are loving we are doing the best thing human beings can do. It is greater than all our other human accomplishments. Our love is more beautiful than the Mona Lisa, stronger than steel cables, older than the pyramids and more impressive than gods, governments, monuments or the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britanica....

“I'd like to make it clear that I do not equate religion with spirituality. I think religion has often been a great evil in the world. If you look up the meaning of the phrase "auto-da-fe" you will see that it means literally "act of faith." This faith act, however, is tying a living person to a stake, piling wood around their feet and burning them to death. Before anybody protests the good things religion has done--The Salvation Army, Feed the Children, The Friends and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committees, etc.--I contend that faith in the unseen does not make us different people from who we already are. Good people do good things, bad people to bad things and both have, in the past, invoked religion and belief in God as the motivation for their behavior.

“I think that spirituality is extremely important. A healthy spiritual life is important to our development as human beings. Healthy spirituality is as important as good self esteem or good relationships, but I separate spirituality from religion. I don't think it has much to do with divine revelation or worship of the unseen.

“That brings us to the sticky subject of a definition for spirituality. If spirituality doesn't have much to do with gods or divine inspiration, what the heck is it? I've read a lot on this subject and talked to a lot of people about it. The answer is clear--we're going to have to live with ambiguity. There's no single definition. Everyone must find the answer for themselves. Naturally I've come up with a definition for myself and I'll offer it to you, not as the final answer--because I don't believe there is one--but to give you something to think about, or maybe a starting point for your own definition.

“So what is spirituality? What are we doing when we are "being" spiritual? For me spirituality is not a state, but an activity. In my humble opinion spirituality is practice. I can't stress that enough. Traditional Asian sitting meditation is a practice--and a difficult one--even though it looks like doing nothing. Spirituality is not striking a virtuous pose. It's not waiting for a swell of emotion. Usually the spiritual practice is something which is repetitive and which serves to disengage the wandering ever-busy mental processes and allow them to come to rest. When the restless mind quiets we can form an intimacy with ourselves. When that happens we also forge a connection between ourselves and the web of existence. We make a carefully considered, nourishing and replenishing connection with life itself. Spirituality is forming an intimate and loving connection with ourselves and with everything in life.

“What constitutes spiritual practice? What do you do? Some practices are obvious. Meditation is one, an important one. Another traditional practice is contemplation and prayer--whether you pray to someone or not, whether you contemplate the divine or the universe in all its splendor. I dance. I play the drum. I chant and I participate in rituals. But also, I know several people who garden, who paint--both pictures and houses, who work wood or metal, who sew, who jog, who bake bread. Phil Jackson in the book Sacred Hoops finds basketball to be a spiritual practice. There are many ways to celebrate these important spiritual connections and allow ourselves to be nourished by them....

“Ultimately Kuan Yin and Bertrand Russell are telling us the same thing: Be compassionate toward one another. Love one another. Endure the happiness of your neighbors, because their happiness is inextricably bound to your own. And for the sake of your own happiness, forge an intimate connection with yourself and between yourself and everything that is in life, celebrate those connections and be nourished by them.

~ Susan Brassfield, Kuan Yin, Bertrand Russell and Why Atheist Spirituality is Not An Oxymoron

thought of the day.170

Truth is an idea about reality and is therefore dependent on and limited by mind; whereas reality exists independently of and uncompromised by mind.

thought of the day.169

Jesus lied. In fact, he told demonstrable lies time and time again. And he didn’t tell little white lies but big black lies that cast dark shadows over countless people’s lives whose unanswered prayers leave them to wonder if perhaps they are being punished for a sin, are not righteous enough, or lack enough faith adding the burden of unwarranted guilt and fear to their suffering. And not only is the Jesus character an habitual liar, his statements are irresponsible and dangerous. What if all Christians took their prayers to Jesus instead of their children to the doctor? Imagine if all Christians actually believed what Jesus said about handling snakes and drinking poison. Sadly, thousands of people have and have suffered countless bites, deformities and death due directly to his ridiculous lies. Glass of poison anyone?


Mt 7:7-8, 18:19, 21:21-2, Mk 11:24, 16:18, Lk 10:19,11:9-13, Jn 14:13-14, 15:7, 15:16, 16:23-24...

thought of the day.168

The Bible and Slavery

Much in the Bible is unclear and contradictory. However, God’s attitude about humans owning other humans as work animals is not one of them. God regulated slavery, commanded it, condoned it and never condemned it. He told his people they could buy and sell foreign men, women and children as slaves. He said a father could sell his own daughters into lifelong slavery. He had his people attack city after city and enslave those not slaughtered. He said a slave owner could beat his slave to death with a rod without punishment as long as the slave suffered a day or two before dying.

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 suggest it’s immoral to sell your daughters or beat your slaves to death. Never does he encourage others to speak out against the evil of slavery. Never does he encourage the oppressed to work for freedom and justice. Neither do his followers. In fact, just the opposite is the case. Peter and Paul instruct slaves to obey and fear their masters, even the cruel and unjust. And Jesus speaks of people owning slaves until the end of time.

Professor Morton Smith notes that "With all these clear passages, there is no reasonable doubt that the New Testament, like the Old, not only tolerated chattel slavery but helped to perpetuate it by making the slaves' obedience to their masters a religious duty. This biblical morality was one of the great handicaps that the emancipation movement in the United States had to overcome. The opponents of abolition had clear biblical evidence on their side...as one said in 1857:"Slavery is of God". (What the Bible Says 1989 p145/146).

Historian Larry Hise notes in his book “Pro-Slavery” that ministers “wrote almost half of all defenses of slavery published in America” listing 275 men of the cloth who used the Bible to prove that it was God’s will for white people to own black people.

In “The Arrogance of Faith: Christianity and Race in America from the Colonial Era to the Twentieth Century”, forrest G. Woods writes, “In the year before the schism, 25,000 communicants owned 208,000 slaves—over 9 percent of the total slave population—and 1,200 Methodist clergymen were themselves slaveholders. If anyone needed a barometer to measure the southern Methodist’s official commitment to bondage he had only to consider the fact that every minister elevated to the rank of bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, between 1846 and the Civil War was a slaveholder.

Charles Bradlaugh said, “...The heretic Cordorcet pleaded powerfully for freedom whilst Christian France was still slave-holding. For many centuries Christian Spain and Christian Portugal held slaves....It was a Christian King...and a Christian friar who founded in Spanish America the slave trade between the Old World and the New. For some 1800 years Christians kept slaves, bought slaves, sold slaves, bred slaves, stole slaves. Pious Bristol and Godly Liverpool less than 100 years ago openly grew rich on the traffic. During the ninth century Greek Christians sold slaves to the Saracens. In the eleventh century prostitutes were publicly sold as slaves in Rome, and the profit went to the Church.”

Professor Carl Lofmark in his book “What is the Bible?” writes: “Christians accepted slavery....the Church itself soon became the biggest slave-owner in the Roman Empire. Slavery was approved of by the Church’s teachers, such as St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas and many others....The slave trade flourished with the approval of the Church .... Slaves have been bought and sold by the popes and they continued to keep slaves until the late 18th century. Opponents of slavery including Wilberforce and Paine.... were savagely attacked by the churches for presuming to know better than the Bible, and the anti-slavery attitude of the Quakers made them unpopular with orthodox Christians.…”

And mark Twain writes, “In all the ages the Roman Church has owned slaves, bought and sold slaves, authorized and encouraged her children to trade in them. … There were the texts; there was no mistaking their meaning; [the Church] was right, she was doing in this thing what the Bible had mapped out for her to do.…

“Christian England supported slavery and encouraged it for two hundred and fifty years, and her church's consecrated ministers looked on, sometimes taking an active hand, the rest of the time indifferent. England's interest in the business may be called a Christian interest, a Christian industry. She had her full share in its revival after a long period of inactivity, and his revival was a Christian monopoly; that is to say, it was in the hands of Christian countries exclusively. English parliaments aided the slave traffic and protected it; two English kings held stock in slave-catching companies. The first regular English slave hunter -- John Hawkins, of still revered memory -- made such successful havoc, on his second voyage, in the matter of surprising and burning villages, and maiming, slaughtering, capturing, and selling their unoffending inhabitants, that his delighted queen conferred the chivalric honor of knighthood on him -- a rank which had acquired its chief esteem and distinction in other and earlier fields of Christian effort. The new knight, with characteristic English frankness and brusque simplicity, chose as his device the figure of a negro slave, kneeling and in chains. Sir John's work was the invention of Christians, was to remain a bloody and awful monopoly in the hands of Christians for a quarter of a millennium, was to destroy homes, separate families, enslave friendless men and women, and break a myriad of human hearts, to the end that Christian nations might be prosperous and comfortable, Christian churches be built, and the gospel of the meek and merciful Redeemer be spread abroad in the earth; and so in the name of his ship, unsuspected but eloquent and clear, lay hidden prophecy. She was called The Jesus.…

“Our own conversion came at last. We began to stir against slavery. Hearts grew soft, here, there, and yonder. There was no place in the land where the seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave. No place in all the land but one -- the pulpit. It yielded at last; it always does. It fought a strong and stubborn fight, and then did what it always does, joined the procession -- at the tail end. Slavery fell. The slavery text remained; the practice changed, that was all.”

thought of the day.167

Test of Faith.Ezekiel

God said he would make parents eat
A. stale bread
B. their children

God punished people by letting them sacrifice their
A. favorite goats
B. first-born sons

God said he would send
A. angels to protect children
B. armies to burn children alive


Ezekiel 5:9-10, 20:25-26, 23:25

thought of the day.166

Christmas is merrier without Christ. An atheist can enjoy the flavor of the season without the fat—no virgin-birth hogwash to swallow, no guilt for being a dirty sinner, no hell to fear.

thought of the day.165

Bertrand Russell said, “My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.” I think it more accurate to say that fear is the disease, religion the symptom. Only when the disease is cured will the symptoms cease.

thought of the day.164

Reasons for the Season

Long before Jesus was said to be born, the ancient Babylonians celebrated the birth of the sun god, Horus, with eating, drinking and the giving of gifts on Dec. 25th.

In ancient Rome, the holiday season was called the birthday of the Unconquered Sun. Dec. 25th was the holiest day of the year as they celebrated the birth of the god Mithra, who, like Jesus, was visited by shepherds and Magi. The Theodosian decree of 391 established Christianity as the official state religion and banned and persecuted all others. To ease the pagan’s transition to the Christian belief system it was decided that Jesus, like Horus, Mithra and numerous other gods, was born on Dec. 25th as well.

Our Christian traditions, like Christianity itself, evolved from pagan traditions. In Rome, costumed singers and dancers called Mummers went from house to house entertaining their neighbors giving rise to the tradition of Christmas caroling. Northern Europeans gave us the Yule log (burnt in honor of their Sun god); Hollyberries (thought to be a food of the gods); kissing under the mistletoe (begun as a fertility ritual) and Christmas trees (evergreens brought into homes as symbols of life).

No matter which god you may be partial to, Dec. 25th is a great day to celebrate the light’s victory over darkness, the warmth of fireplaces, family and friends and the promise of a brand new year! For those things are the real reasons for the season.

thought of the day.163

Religious leaders empower themselves by proclaiming that “obedience” to God is the greatest good. In contrast, suggesting that “happiness” is the greatest good empowers others.

thought of the day.162

Truth, justice, mercy, freedom, empathy, peace, and joy are all fine things on their own but sublime when melded as love.

Evangelical pastor, Rick Warren who was recently selected to pray at the Obama inauguration has been an outspoken opponent of gay marriage. His selection set off a firestorm of protests to which he responded saying he “loved” gays. But to truly love someone is to want the very best for them, to have empathy for them, to want them to be justly treated, to be free to be themselves, to find peace and joy. My guess is Rick Warren might want the best for people—gays included—but his “holy” book has twisted his notion of love.

thought of the day.161

The Rev’s Top 10 Christmas Movies

1. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)

2. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

3. Christmas Vacation (1989)

4. Trading Places (1983)

5. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
(Thanksgiving is close enough)

6. Bad Santa (2003)

7. Elf (2003)

8. A Christmas Story (1983)

9. Prancer (1989)

10. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

thought of the day.160

Vegetarian Sharks and the Absurdity of a Deathless Creation

To believe that God’s creation was originally “perfect” and that death only entered the world after the disobedience of Adam and Eve one must then presume God gave the shark its teeth to slice into seaweed not fish, gave the spider its web to catch sunlight not flies and gave the cheetah its speed to chase the wind not antelopes.

According to Genesis, God’s command was for mankind to multiply and fill the earth—an easy task without death to curb the population. Of course if there was no death, birds would darken the sky, fish overflow the seas and animals would eventually be stacked to the moon.

All absolutely absurd. Yet this is what Christian theology is based on. If there was no perfect world to begin with then there could be no “Fall” and if no Fall there is no reason for hell and if no hell there is no need of a saviour to save us from it. And the Christian house of cards collapses.

thought of the day.159

“I believe in honesty. I believe that a Church has no right to teach what it does not know. I believe that a clean life and a tender heart are worth more to this world than all the faith and all the gods of Time. I believe that this world needs all our best efforts and earnest endeavors twenty-four hours every day....I believe that fear of a god cripples men’s intellects more than any other influence. I believe that Humanity needs and should have all our time, efforts, love, worship, and tenderness. I believe that one world is all we can deal with at a time. I believe that, if there is a future life, the best possible preparation for it is to do the very best we can here and now. I believe that love for our fellow-men is infinitely nobler, better, and more necessary than love for God. I believe that men, women, and children need our best thoughts, our tenderest consideration, and our earnest sympathy.…I believe that it is better to build one happy home here than to invest in a thousand churches which deal with a hereafter.”

~ Helen H. Gardner, Men, Women, And Gods, 1885

thought of the day.158

Christian apologist: mental gymnast who flips and turns and twists the truth for the glory of God.

thought of the day.157

Rather than filling our children’s heads with thoughts of ghosts, gods and goblins, it seems the world would be a far better place if we simply taught them to question everything, cause no needless suffering, and be kind.

thought of the day.156

3 obstacles to truth

1. Arrogance. We often believe we already possess the truth.

2. Narcissism. We’re often more concerned with being heard than hearing.

3. Fear. Intellectual comfort—not truth—is too often our goal.

thought of the day.155

test of faith. 2 Kings

God sent bears to
A. lay down in the manger
B. tear children to pieces

God sent an angel upon 185,000 soldiers to
A. instill peace in their hearts
B. kill them all

Jesus’ own ancestor, Manasseh,
A. spread the good news about Christ
B. sacrificed his son as a burnt offering

2 Kings 2:24, 19:35, 21:6

thought of the day.154

Jesus says that as inherently “bad” as human fathers are, they would not give their children a snake when they ask for a fish and yet snakes—deadly poisonous snakes— are exactly what Jesus’ “Father in Heaven” gave his children when they cried out in hunger. Mt 7:7-11, Nu 21:4-6

thought of the day.153

The Wisdom of Famous Christians

“I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot...I think the world is much helped by the suffering of the poor people.”

~Mother Teresa

thought of the day.152

Jesus starved people to the point of eating their own babies, afterbirth and all. He sent armies to kill, rape, and enslave his own chosen ones. He blessed those that slaughtered their friends and family. He rained fire and brimstone upon the young and the old. He sent poisonous snakes to bite them and wild animals to devour them. Jesus made laws that demanded all the men of a city stone brides on their wedding night who couldn’t prove their virginity. He permitted a father to sell his daughters into lifelong slavery. He commanded the genocide of entire nations and drowned every child in the world. If Jesus is understood to be God then Jesus committed these atrocities and if we define this God as “Good” is there any wonder why humans can justify their atrocities as being “God’s will”?

thought of the day.151

Hitler was a saint and Auschwitz a playground compared to Jesus and his fiery furnace.

thought of the day.150

"At this time of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

~ Freedom from Religion Foundation

thought of the day.149

Test of Faith.Revelation

Jesus promised to throw Jezebel
A. a party
B. on a bed and make her suffer terribly

Jesus’ angels will
A. bless all of mankind
B. kill a third of mankind

Jesus will rule the world with
A. love and wisdom
B. an iron rod

Rev 2:22-23, 9:15, 19:12-16

thought of the day.148

The Angel Myth

Most people think of angels as being, well, angelic. But the bible shows them to be winged killing machines that make the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz seem down right cuddly. Their body count includes untold numbers of first-born males in Egypt, 185,000 soldiers, 70,000 Israelites and Revelation tells us that four especially blood-thirsty angels of the Lord will slaughter a third of mankind upon Jesus’ return. And of course Jesus warmed all our hearts by promising that his angels would cast our unbelieving friends and family into a fiery furnace to roast forever.

In the movie, The Prophecy, Thomas Daggett asks, “Did you ever notice how in the Bible, whenever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel?”

thought of the day.147

Jesus, Peter and the Legacy of Battering

If we are to believe the bible, Peter was one of a select few specially chosen by Jesus to accompany him throughout his ministry. One would think he would have been profoundly enlightened by such an experience. That he would have become a defender of justice, a friend of the downtrodden, a light in the darkness. Instead he was the darkness.

Peter used the idea of God to justify oppression. According to him, the wife suffering beneath the blows of a cruel husband or the slave suffering beneath the blows of a cruel master shouldn’t try to change their situation but accept it. Peter says God is in fact pleased when people endure the pain of undeserved beatings. Their suffering is actually God’s plan for them. (1 P 2:19-20) (1 P 4:19) He said wives make themselves beautiful by submitting themselves to their husbands like Sarah did by obeying her husband and calling him master. (1 P 3:5-6) Peter had such low regard for females he described Lot (who offered his two virgin daughters to an angry mob of sexually depraved men to do with as they pleased (Gn 19:6-8)) as a “good” man. (2 P 2:7-8)

An example of how these toxic texts poison life is seen here in Protestant reformer, John Calvin’s response to a battered woman pleading for help:

“We have a special sympathy for poor women who are evilly and roughly treated by their husbands, because of the roughness and cruelty of the tyranny and captivity which is their lot. We do not find ourselves permitted by the Word of God, however, to advise a woman to leave her husband, except by force of necessity, and we do not understand this force to be operative when a husband behaves roughly and uses threats to his wife, nor even when he beat her.…We exhort her to bear with patience the cross which God has been seen fit to place upon her; and meanwhile not to deviate from the duty which she has before God to please her husband, but to be faithful whatever happens.”

thought of the day.146

The Wisdom of Famous Christians

“Women should not be enlightened or educated in any way.
They should, in fact, be segregated as they are the cause of hideous and involuntary erections in holy men.”

~ Saint Augustine

thought of the day.145

Which is more wicked—creating hell or praising its creator?

thought of the day.144

Test of Faith.Matthew

Jesus said he came to bring
A. peace
B. a sword

Jesus
A. blessed a tree with life
B. cursed a tree to death

Jesus’ angels will gather people to
A. shower them with love
B. throw them into a fiery furnace

Jesus called a mother and daughter
A. God’s children
B. dogs

Jesus said to fear
A. nothing—for he will protect you
B. God—for he can burn you in hell

Matthew 10:34, 21:18-21, 13:40-42, 15:21-28, 10:28