An Imperfect God

Where's god's perfection if he admits to mistakes? Genesis 6:6 clearly states he "regretted that he had made human beings".  The god of the bible is a deity created by man, in the image of man, not unlike hundreds of other mythological deities made up in the same Iron Age era. Claiming that there is only one true god is a rejection of religion's documented history, particularly because 1) there is not a shred of evidence any of these mythological gods ever existed. (It's what secular history teaches us.) And 2) it's just a small slice of the much larger picture of religion's ages-long evolution from polytheism to monotheism.* 

In light of this, claiming the superiority of one god over hundreds of others is nothing but a fool's errand. More so, even the historical inaccuracies of the bible lend credence to the very questionable origins of the Abrahamic religions.

From Wikipedia:

Quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten from the 14th century BCE.

In the Iron-Age South Asian Vedic period, a possible inclination towards monotheism emerged. The Rigveda exhibits notions of monism of the Brahman, particularly in the comparatively late tenth book, which is dated to the early Iron Age, e.g. in the Nasadiya Sukta. Later, ancient Hindu theology was monist, but was not strictly monotheistic in worship because it still maintained the existence of many gods, who were envisioned as aspects of one supreme God, Brahman.

More recently, Karen Armstrong and other authors have returned to the idea of an evolutionary progression beginning with animism, which developed into polytheism, which developed into henotheism, which developed into monolatry, which developed into true monotheism

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism)

* In its early stages, the Israelite religion was derived from the Canaanite religions of the Bronze Age; by the Iron Age, it had become distinct from other Canaanite religions as it shed polytheism for monolatry. The monolatrist nature of Yahwism was further developed in the period following the Babylonian captivity, eventually emerging as a firm religious movement of monotheism.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions)

Another pertinent reference: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_deities

Would You Worship This God?

Who would want to follow a god who is demonstratably aborticidal, angry, bloodthirsty, a bully, cannibalistic, capriciously malevolent, a control freak, curse-hurling, an ethnic cleanser, evil, filicidal, genocidal, homicidal, homophobic, infanticidal, jealous, megalomaniacal, merciless, misogynistic, pestilential, petty, racist, sadomasochistic, a slavemonger, a terrorist, unforgiving, unjust, vaccicidal, and vindictive? 

Christian apologists say "But that's the Old Testament" as if it doesn't count any more. *Cough*. They should read their bible a little more thoroughly, as it states it's ALL legit and still applicable:

“For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19)

“It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid.” (Luke 16:17)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (Matthew 5:17)

“Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law” (John7:19)

Thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation for the following references: 

Aborticidal:

Hosea 13:16: Because she has rebelled against her God . . . their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Numbers 5:21–22: May the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.

Hosea 9:11–16: Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. . . . But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer. Give them, Lord—what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry. . . . I will no longer love them . . . Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.

Angry:

Zephaniah 3:8: The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.

Isaiah 63:3: I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments.

Deuteronomy 6:14–15: Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth..

Ezekiel 38:19: For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.

Leviticus 26:28: In my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.

Bloodthirsty:

Ezekiel 39:17–18: Thus saith the Lord God . . . Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth.

Ezekiel 32:6: I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood; and the watercourses will be full of you.

Jeremiah 46:10: For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood.

A Bully:

Job 9:22–23: He destroys the perfect and the wicked. . . . He will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

Ezekiel 20:25–26: I might horrify them . . . that they might know that I am the Lord.

Exodus 14:4: I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:39: See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

Cannibalistic:

Leviticus 26:28–29: But if, despite this, you disobey me . . . you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 

Deuteronomy 28:53: And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

Isaiah 9:19–20: By the wrath of the Lord Almighty the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire. . . . Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring.

Jeremiah 19:7–9: And their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. . . . And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege.

Capriciously Malevolent:

Isaiah 45:7: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Isaiah 9:17: Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows.

Deuteronomy 29:1: Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

A Control Freak:

Exodus 20:25: If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.

1 Samuel 2:6–7: The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

Exodus 25:8–31: And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it . . . They shall do just as I have commanded you.

Curse-hurling:

Deuteronomy 29:20: All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.

Genesis 12:3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Jeremiah 11:3–4: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant.

Deuteronomy 29:26–27: And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book.

Psalm 37:22: For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

An Ethnic Cleanser:

Numbers 33:52–53: You shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land . . . for I have given you the land to possess.

1 Samuel 15:3: Go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

Joshua 11:21–22: Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 13:12–16: You shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square, and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; it shall be a heap for ever, it shall not be built again.

2 Chronicles 34:1–7: In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, . . . And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

Evil:

1 Kings 14:9-10: But you have done evil above all those who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods, therefore, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam.

Isaiah 45:7: I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Ezekiel 6:10: And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

Jeremiah 11:11: Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing evil upon them which they cannot escape; though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

Zechariah 8:14: For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I purposed to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts.”

Filicidal:

Leviticus 21:9: And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

Lamentations 4:10: The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Genesis 22:2: Take your son . . . and offer him there as a burnt offering.

Deuteronomy 21:18–21: If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother . . . all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die.

Genocidal & Homicidal:

Deuteronomy 20:16–17: You must not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall annihilate them.

Deuteronomy 2:32–34: And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and . . . we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain.

Genesis 6:6–8: I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created— people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.

Deuteronomy 20:10–19: In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them.

1 Samuel 15:7–8: And Saul smote the Amalekites . . . and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Jeremiah 50:21: Go up against the land of Merathaʹim, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Slay, and utterly destroy after them, says the Lord, and do all that I have commanded you.

Exodus 21:15: Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.

2 Chronicles 15:13: All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman.

Exodus 22:20: Whoever sacrifices to any god, save to the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed.

Deuteronomy 22:20–21: Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones.

Esther 9:5–6: The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

Homophobic:

Leviticus 18:22: You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13: If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Infanticidal:

Hosea 13:16: Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

1 Samuel 15:2–3: Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.

Psalm 137:8–9: O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!

Numbers 31:17: Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

Ezekiel 9:4–6: And the Lord said unto him . . . Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women.

Jealous:

Nahum 1:2: A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and wrathful.

Exodus 20:4–6: You shall not make for yourself an idol . . . for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing . . . those who reject me.

Deuteronomy 4:24: For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Psalm 78:58: For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

Ezekiel 38:19: For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.

Megalomaniacal:

Ezekiel 38:23: So I will display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Isaiah 33:10–12: Now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. . . . Acknowledge my might.

Deuteronomy 32:39: See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Psalm 95:3: For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Deuteronomy 7:21: Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.

Deuteronomy 10:17, 20: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome . . . Fear the Lord your God and serve him.

Merciless:

Jeremiah 13:14: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them..

Deuteronomy 7:1–2: When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to take possession of it . . . show no mercy to them.

Lamentations 2:2: The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the habitations of Jacob.

Ezekiel 7:9: And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity . . . Then you will know that I am the Lord, who smite.

Jeremiah 21:7: And afterward, saith the Lord . . . he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

Misogynistic:

Genesis 3:16: Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

Exodus 21:7: When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

Numbers 5:15–31: This is the law in cases of jealousy. The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.

Judges 5:30: Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?

Numbers 31:17–18: Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Petty:

Ezekiel 13:20: I am against your pillows!

Leviticus 19:27: You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

Leviticus 19:19: Nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials

Deuteronomy 28:17: Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

Racist:

Deuteronomy 7:1–6: When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy . . . Do not intermarry with them.

Deuteronomy 7:6: The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Nehemiah 13:3: When they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Deuteronomy 23:3–6: An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. . . . Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

Nehemiah 13:23–30: Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. . . . Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? . . . Thus cleansed I them from all strangers.

Sadomasochistic:

Psalm 147:11: The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Jeremiah 13:15–26: Rape: The Lord has spoken. . . . it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up, and you are violated [raped] . . . because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies. I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.

Isaiah 53:10: Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

Psalm 33:8: Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

Psalm 34:11: Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Slavemonger:

Leviticus 25:44–46: Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves . . . and they will become your property. You can . . . make them slaves for life.

Exodus 21:20–21: Anyone who beats their slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies . . . but not if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

Judges 1:28,30,35: When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. . . . Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. . . . When the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

Exodus 20:9–10: The seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

Exodus 20:17: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

A Terrorist:

Isaiah 2:19: Enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

Psalm 14:5: There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.

Psalm 73:18-19: Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

Exodus 23:27: I will send my terror in front of you.

Leviticus 26:13-16: I am the Lord your God . . . if you will not obey me . . . I will bring terror on you.

Unforgiving:

Joshua 24:19: He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

Isaiah 22:14: The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: ‘Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you till you die,’ says the Lord God of hosts.

2 Kings 24:3–4: For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

Deuteronomy 29:20: For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.

Exodus 23:21: Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.

Ezekiel 24:13–14: I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent.

Unjust:

Deuteronomy 5:9: I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me.

Exodus 34:6–7: The Lord God . . . visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Numbers 14:18: The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

Isaiah 14:21: Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

1 Kings 21:28–29: Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Jeremiah 29:31–32: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants.

Vaccicidal:

Ezekiel 32:13: I will destroy all its livestock from beside abundant waters.

1 Samuel 15:3: Attack the Amalekites . . . put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.

Exodus 9:1–3,6: The hand of the Lord will strike with a deadly pestilence your livestock in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. . . . And on the next day the Lord did so; all the livestock of the Egyptians died.

Deuteronomy 13:15: You must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.

Ezekiel 32:13–15: I will destroy all her cattle from beside abundant waters no longer to be stirred by the foot of man or muddied by the hooves of cattle. . . . When I strike down all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord.

Vindictive:

Deuteronomy 32:35: The Lord says, . . . “I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.”

Isaiah 47:3: I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man.

Isaiah 34:8: For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Isaiah 47:3–4: I will take vengeance, and I will spare no man. Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.

Psalm 94:1: O Lord, the God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!

Lamentations 3:64–66: Pay them back what they deserve, Lord, for what their hands have done.

Old Testament Genocide

Here's a Christian apologist trying to justify old testament genocide (Joshua 6:20-21):

"This, generally speaking, is how Christian theologians have interpreted the Old Testament “ban” (Hebrew cherem). This term refers to God’s strict commandment to grant the heathen no quarter, to take neither prisoners nor spoil, but to destroy everything found in the cities of their enemies. Repulsive as it sounds to us today, this ruthless brand of warfare was not technically “genocide.” Not in the modern sense of the term. According to most biblical scholars, it was actually an expression of God’s judgment upon the Canaanites." *

Sorry, but this word salad is nothing more than trying to put lipstick on a pig, and that's putting it lightly. The justification begins with the premise that God cannot do wrong; that he can toy around with his creation as he sees fit. And that the concept of needing to eliminate any threats of sin influencing his chosen people somehow requires them being snuffed out. A very fitting description of a god contrived in the minds of ancient authors creating angry and jealous spiritual entities that they think everyone should bow to. Cuz, well, MY god is better and more superior than YOUR god. 

Blood-soaked religions use this backdrop of sacrifice for dealing with sin (either for ethnic cleansing, and/or salvation). It's very telling, for example, that many of the south American cultures (including the Maya and the Mexican) believed that human sacrifice nourished the gods. These brands of religion survived eons of criticism because mankind has an innate need to be guided by a father figure that both intimidates and comforts us. 

All these qualities of an easily explained story have strong underlying archetypical elements of salvation and eternal life. Stockholm syndrome, really. Very understandable how it has such a grasp on our psyche. A cursory study of our subconscious archetypes go a long way in explaining all this... It takes a lifetime of unearthing and becoming aware of these influences in order to extricate oneself from their control and grasp. Once done, you are free to be an independent thinker... 

* Reference: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/christian-struggles-with-biblical-accounts-of-genocide-and-holy-war/

Critical Thinking is at Risk...

The discipline of critical thinking is taking a shit kicking these days.  Just look at the latest in American politics and the religious right’s support of it.  Those who willingly lack this discipline stay at the mercy of the manipulators, controllers, and fear mongers because to them, their arguments make sense. Religion and belief in god is at the root of so much garbage. Pls read on.

(For the sake of brevity in these few paragraphs, I’ll use the word “bible” to also mean the koran and talmud... they all come from the same root Abrahamic writings.)

By the basic rules of truth, logic and philosophy, the god of the bible cannot exist. The mass of contradictions in each of the Abrahamic “holy” writings is too overwhelming for the serious inquirer to take seriously, unless they are picking and choosing what they want to believe. 

See, there’s this little problem of evidence of god’s existence.  When challenged with this point, many immediately reply “Prove to me he DOESN’T exist.”  Oh please... it’s like me asking you to prove the easter bunny doesn’t exist.  Can’t do it, can you?  It’s a fundamental law of logic: you can’t prove a negative. Therefore, when all is said and done, when someone claims that god exists, I can as easily dismiss that claim due to the lack of evidence. 

The burden of proof is on the person making any claim without evidence; it isn’t up to the other person to prove they’re  wrong.

An inherent and significant fallacy of any faith and religious belief is as follows: say I settled on a particular interpretation of the bible (there are thousands by necessity...)  stating mine was the right one...  have I not placed myself in a position of unquestionable authority over the bible, god, and everyone else? Yes I have.  Simple logic, because I have claimed that my “take” is right one.  I’ll agree with others that agree with me, and reject all others with differing views.  Instant logical fallacy.

Sorry, we can’t wiggle out of this one by saying there’s “your” truth, and “my” truth because THAT my friends is broken, faulty, childish logic.  Terms must be defined: there can be many interpretations,  but there can only be the ultimate undeniable, provable, untenable final truth.  Like the law of gravity.  No arguments there!

The last protest to this logic is always “It’s a mystery. We cannot know or understand the mind of god.”  Well, isn’t that convenient?  Believers use this as their last argument; their last resort to demolish any kind of challenge to their beliefs.  They pull the rug out from under us by saying they have no need to provide proof because of the nature of god... that he can make and brake rules as he sees fit.  Funny how they are experts in total non-logic, contradictory facts, and claim to be best friends with the author of this universe that has no rules. They get to make up them up as things progress.  THAT is the purest definition of total non-accountability, and is the reason why religious faith is dangerous...

Please THINK critically.  It’s becoming a rarity these days.

Don't get me wrong, I may look like an atheist... but...

Many of my posts on this blog would leave one with the idea that I belong to this new atheist movement some of you may be familiar with. The big names that everyone quotes (me included) are Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Hawkins. Christopher Hitchens is no longer with us (R.I.P.). They're sought-after keynote speakers, authors, scientists, and philosophers. I've read most of their publications, and agree with 100% of what they say when criticizing traditional religion.

But - that does not say I believe 100% of everything they say. No one should believe everything anyone says anyways. If you do, shame on you.

The point is that although I agree with these atheists' arguments against religion, I do not make the stretch to say that science has discovered everything we need to know, and therefore reject anything and everything spiritual or unexplained. These people mock things like chiropractors, Eastern medicine, distance healing, Reiki... basically anything that traditional science hasn't proven with years of funded research.

So, before swallowing the new atheist movement's pill whole hog, consider where they come from... they are hard core philosophers and scientists who don't give an inch to anything not backed up by pure (read: traditional) science. In contrast, me and a bazzilion other people have legitimate and very real experiences with these "unknown" areas of spirituality, so I take their opinion on these matters lightly.

My underlying point here is that personally, I have indeed turned my back on traditional Christianity (as anyone who reads the Bible cover to cover should), but there's a massive difference between being religious and being spiritual. I brand myself the latter. Just so you know...

What Happens if you REALLY follow the bible?

Sam Harris once again shreds the idea that the bible/god/christianity is all about love and peace. If we really took the bible seriously and lived by it, we'd all have slaves, beat our children, and stone our new wife if we found out she wasn't a virgin... give it a quick listen...

If you have ten minutes, watch this video. It's the best I've heard from Sam Harris so far and it gives bible believers a run for their money. So much so, that one has to be in absolute denial to dismiss the points he makes.  I literally could not be more direct and succinct in showing the folly of believing in the god of the bible...

In light of recent news about hurricane Sandy, I thought this would be a good conversation starter ...but there's not a lot more to say than what's in the graphic above. It's hard to argue with pure logic, isn't it?

Perhaps there are Christian apologists who would suggest a fourth option; that God is standing by, waiting for this clock he wound up 6,000 years ago to come to it's fruition. But the gymnastics required to back that up would fill a book, and would require the use of a book that is full of contradictions. Christianity is supposed to be so simple that a child can understand it, so bzzzzt!  Religion fails yet again.

Why is SO much unquestioned respect given to faith?  It's as if anything believed under the umbrella of religion is somehow immune to the scrutiny of common sense.  We actually know the answer: it's because our relatively recent history as a society was enveloped in the dark ages, where religion governed all aspects of life.

My challenge to the reader is to examine your own emotions and judgements (good and bad) next time someone asks your head to be bowed at a family or communal meal, even if the majority present aren't religious. That behaviour is an indicator of our society's undue respect and over-tolerance for unfounded and irrational faith, which came from that time in history when superstition and religion where one in the same. The church held power over government. Priests were gods. That's not the case any more, but you wouldn't know it by the remnants were still carry...

It's high time we throw away that rabbit's foot.

The scary thing is, there are Christians today who would defend this kind of behaviour, not just slavery (...because, well - God says it okay), but the beating as well. In my Christian days, I was exposed to various teachings about submission, and one common interpretation is that submission to any and all authority is non-negotiable. That goes for Peter, above...

You see, a face-value interpretation of the Christian bible should actually make atheists out of any reader. But why doesn't it?

Some of you who know me have heard about my brush with evangelical christianity.  Well... more than a brush actually - more like a life-changing, immersive experience. While in that environment, I was an eager non-stop learner, always asking about this and that. Sometimes the answers made sense, other times not. That always niggled my brain: basic questions of scientific evidence were brushed aside as evidence of a lack of faith.

Wow, I'm glad I moved on. I now see the wisdom in non-stop searching; non-stop questioning; non-stop challenging my OWN beliefs about what reality is. I've concluded, quite firmly, that old-school religion is a crock. A crock based on new evidence revealed by the last 200 years of scientific evidence. Face it, the church elite could get away with telling those old bible stories to the ignorant masses who knew no better. Now we do.  Or do we...?

(click image to enlarge if you find it hard to read)

Even the most cursory understanding of genetics is enough to blow the whole creation story out of the water.   The above is one simple example; there are others.

I actually had my DNA examined by the National Geographic "Genographic" project, in which over 500,000 people from across the globe participated. They are able to trace back our lineage to tribes that migrated over 60,000 years ago from central Africa by determining the specific haplogroup one belongs to. This is possible due to random, though infrequent, mutational errors in DNA.

So, did you get that?  60,000 years ago. Not 6,000, not 10,000, which creationists place creation at. 60,000.

So, no, Eve did not come from Adam's rib.  I mean, c'mon... If you believe that, then I have a bridge for sale in Florida I think you should invest in... If you still want to argue that God created everything with age, then I suppose I too have the right to believe in the flying spaghetti monster. Which of course YOU can't see, but I happen to believe exists. So there...