My Thoughts on Religion
By Bob Barnes ~
How many people would this effect?
(How many people with tattoos would this effect)
PAGE ELEVEN
THE REASON RELIGION EXISTS
If there were no such thing as dying, there would be no such thing as religion. The reason religion exists is because people can’t be honest and face the facts, when you die it’s all over. Every religious person is looking for a ticket to a heaven that does not exist. Like I said earlier, it’s time for Civilization to grow up.
Unlike most governments of the past, the American Founding Fathers set up a government divorced from any religion. Their establishment of a secular government did not require a reflection to themselves of its origin; they knew this as a ubiquitous unspoken given. However, as the United States delved into international affairs, few foreign nations knew about the intentions of the U.S. For this reason, an insight from at a little known but legal document written in the late 1700s explicitly reveals the secular nature of the U.S. government to a foreign nation. Officially called the "Treaty of peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary," most refer to it as simply
Where to you get your morals, if not from the Bible?
What if you are wrong?
If there is no God, what stops you from killing, stealing & raping etc?
What about free will
The Freewill Argument for the Nonexistence of God
The Christian God is defined as a personal being who knows everything. According to Christians, personal beings have free will. In order to have free will, you must have more than one option, each of which is avoidable. This means that before you make a choice, there must be a state of uncertainty during a period of potential: you cannot know the future. Even if you think you can predict your decision, if you claim to have free will, you must admit the potential (if not the desire) to change your mind before the decision is final.
PAGE ONE
In my life, I have had to make a lot of difficult decisions, and I like to think that most of my decisions were based on rational, logical, analytical, and using critical thinking and always seeking the truth.
I need empirical evidence to satisfy my curiosity.
“If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have NOT THE TRUTH, it ought to be harmed”
The easiest decision I have ever had to make in my life was whether religion & Christianity in particular had any merit or truth.
Any religious person who would start to read this writing will be offended and angry right off the bat, that someone would question their beliefs. My intentions are not to offend anyone, but to give them an honest reason why I think the way I do.
I will try to list my reasons in no particular order and then try to explain them.
THE BIBLE:
My first approach was to find out who wrote the bible and where did it come from.
The bible was voted on my mortal men who decided what went in and what would not. This took place in around 325 AD.at the Council of Nicaea. The gospels were only four out of over twenty. The authors were all anonymous. No one knows who wrote Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. As a matter of fact, most books in the bible were anonymous and no one knows who wrote them. The first five (Pentateuch) were suppose to have been written by Moses. Scholars now believe, they were written by a least four different authors and possibly five. The gospels were written several generations after Jesus suppose to have lived and died. They were not written first hand.
Emperor Constantine- There were too many religions in Rome in 325 A.D. A Council was called in an endeavor to amalgamate the many religions of the Roman Empire into one. Christianity plagiarized older myths and legends historicized to suit the Roman Catholic Church while combining the numerous religions existing at the time (Krishna, Horus, Mithraism, Osirian, Isis, and many other mystery religions). For unity and to stop all the conflicts between the numerous religions…
Christianity was INVENTED. Eusebius (Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine “Father of Church History“) attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. and was a friend of Emperor Constantine, who also attended and made the keynote speech. Constantine instructed Eusebius to organize the compilation of a uniform collection of new writings developed from primary aspects of the religious texts submitted at the council. Eusebius has been described as follows: Jacob Burckhardt (19th century cultural historian) dismissed Eusebius as “the first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity”. He has been also described as “a political theologian”. He favored doctoring his history in his own words to “be useful first to ourselves and afterwards to posterity”. Edward Gibbon (18th century historian –“The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”) dismissed his testimony on the number of martyrs and impugned his honesty At first, there was controversy about the new religion at the Council of Nicaea. Some claimed it was a fiction and Christ was a fiction, but they did not prevail.
P.S. Yes, the Bible is filled with nonsense. This includes... a pristine world created without death, a global flood that saw 8 humans plus some collection of critters on a boat survive, magical fruit, a talking snake, a talking donkey, demon infested pigs, a talking bush, a stick turned into a snake, water turning into wine, a detached hand floated in the air and wrote on a wall, Feeding over 5000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, fire from heaven consuming idol worshipers on Earth, bears mauling children for them calling Elisha a "baldhead", the sun stopping in the sky so Joshua could win a battle. Jephthah sacrificing daughter because she was first one to greet her father after god let him win battle.
"Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day." (Joshua 10:12-13)
The bible is full of errors about animals. A rabbit doesn’t have a cud to chew, bats are mammals and not birds, Whales are not fish, etc.
The bible is full of contradictions too numerous to mention. Like Judas hanging himself in one place and falling down a spilling his guts in another.
PAGE TWO
A woman turning into a pillar of salt, 10 plagues in Egypt that have no historical reference in Egyptian history, Pharaoh and his army of charioteers disappearing into a sea despite no such reference in Egyptian history, God allowing Job's children and servants and household and personal health to be destroyed just to prove a point to Satan, Samuel killing 1,000 people with the jawbone of a donkey, Jonah spending 3 days in the gut of a fish, an ear being reattached without surgery, dead being raised to life, a man walking on water, a man turning water into wine, and God depending upon the witness of IDIOTS like Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron and Ken Ham to spread the "good news". How can a rational mind accept any of this? If God will not reveal Himself to you in a way that you can comprehend, it is absurd to think you deserve eternal torment for not "believing"
The bible has all kinds of scientific errors, like the sun revolving around the earth when it is the opposite. Galileo spent the last years of his life in confinement because he wouldn’t reverse his discovery that the earth revolves around the sun. In 1992 the Vatican issued an official apology to Galileo.
PSALM 1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
The bible is full of absurdities like living 900 years, living in a whale for three days, talking snakes, donkeys and bushes, turning water into wine, rising from the dead (500 rose when the resurrection was suppose to have taken place), walking on water, turning a woman into salt, being born of a virgin, Stars falling to earth when the stars are really other suns that are in greater size than the earth. The earth is a little over 8,000 miles in diameter & our sun is 1,100,000 miles in diameter. The largest star discovered is twice as big as our sun. What this you tube video-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoW8Tf7hTGA
The bible condones SLAVERY
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)
The bible has unreasonable laws like a woman must marry her rapist, a woman’s hand has to be cut off if she accidentally grabs a man’s testicles.
Deuteronomy 28 ¶ If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)
How many people would this effect?
Deuteronomy 25:11... 11 ¶ When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: 12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
PAGE THREE
The bible has silly rules about eating shell fish, planting two crops in the same field, wearing clothes of two different fabrics, or tattooing your body etc.
Leviticus 19-28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
(How many people with tattoos would this effect)
The Bible has insane passages about foreskins
1 Samuel 18:25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. ( How is this for a wedding gift)
1 Samuel 18:27Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.
The Bible has (CHOSEN) people like Lot, Noah Etc. who turn out to be not of very good character. Lot has sex with his daughters & impregnates them. Noah lays around naked & drunk.
Below are two different stories about protecting your guests & turning your daughters over to be raped.
Genesis 19
And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
Judges 19-24
Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.
THE BIBLE IS FULL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL ERRORS
The exodus out of Egypt left nothing etc. If the exodus never happened, then Moses was not real, the Sermon on the Mount never happened etc.https://thechurchoftruth.org/95-2/
Archaeologists discount the Bible, because not a single find has been made in the desert between the Middle Bronze II and the Late Bronze Age, the entire period typically dated from c. 2000-1200 B.C.[18] Finkelstein said, there is "not a shred of evidence" providing information on the Exodus. Further, it is "extremely unlikely" new materials will be found to allow serious archaeological research on the Exodus and desert wanderings.[19] Apparently, Israel left nothing to indicate their presence. The city of Arad did not exist between c. 2300 and 1000 B.C. It simply was not there for Israel to conquer. The town of Nazareth never existed in the time of Jesus birth. Did Joseph take his family to Egypt or Nazareth to escape.
- Nazareth is not mentioned even once in the entire Old Testament. The Book of Joshua (19.10,16) – in what it claims is the process of settlement by the tribe of Zebulon in the area – records twelve towns and six villages and yet omits any 'Nazareth' from its list.
- The Talmud, although it names 63 Galilean towns, knows nothing of Nazareth, nor does early rabbinic literature.
- St Paul knows nothing of 'Nazareth'. Rabbi Solly's epistles (real and fake) mention Jesus 221 times, Nazareth not at all
- No ancient historian or geographer mentions Nazareth. It is first noted at the beginning of the 4th century.
EVOLUTION
Everything I read in scientific books shows that evolution is an absolute fact. Two great books are: The Greatest show on earth by Richard Dawkins and Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne. DNA is proving that evolution occurred and is a fact.
PAGE FOUR
THE BIBLE HAS HUNDREDS OF DUPLICATED VERSES
Why are so many verses duplicated in the Bible? It makes no sense. There are two different creation stories, two different sets of commandments, two different stories about giving daughters to be raped, to name a few.
Below are examples of 2 duplicated verses
11 KINGS 27 ¶ And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 28 And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;‡‡‡ 29 And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. 30 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.
JEREMIRAH 31 ¶ And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, 32 And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,§ 33 And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. 34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.**
WEBSITE BELOW SHOWS 240 DUPLICATED VERSES IN THE BIBLE
Please Check https://honza.ca/2013/06/duplicate-bible-verses
THE BIBLE HAS VERSES THAT WERE NOT IN ORIGINAL BIBLE
For example: John 8:7
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
This verse was added centuries later and not in original Bible.
The last 12 verses of Mark 16 9 to 20 are missing from original copies
Question: "Does John 7:53—8:11 belong in the Bible?"
Answer: The story of the woman caught in adultery is found in John 7:53—8:11. This section of Scripture, sometimes referred to as the pericope adulterae, has been the center of much controversy over the years. At issue is its authenticity. Did the apostle John write John 7:53—8:11, or is the story of the adulterous woman forgiven by Jesus a later, uninspired insertion into the text?
The Textus Receptus includes John 7:53—8:11, and the majority of Greek texts do. That is the reason the King James Version of the New Testament (based on the Textus Receptus) includes the section as an original part of the Gospel of John. However, more modern translations, such as the NIV and the ESV, include the section but bracket it as not original. This is because the earliest (and many would say the most reliable) Greek manuscripts do not include the story of the woman taken in adultery.
The Greek manuscripts show fairly clear evidence that John 7:53—8:11 was not originally part of John’s Gospel. No church father commented on the section until the twelfth century, and, even then, his comment was that accurate Greek manuscripts did not contain it. Among the manuscripts that do contain the section, either wholly or in part, there are variations of placement. Some manuscripts put the pericope adulterae after John 7:36, others after John 21:25, and some even place it in the Gospel of Luke (after Luke 21:38 or 24:53).
There is internal evidence, too, that John 7:53—8:11 is not original to the text. For one thing, the inclusion of these verses breaks the flow of John’s narrative. Reading from John 7:52 to John 8:12 (skipping the debated section) makes perfect sense. Also, the vocabulary used in the story of the adulterous woman is different from what is found in the rest of the Gospel of John. For example, John never refers to “the scribes” anywhere in his book—except in John 8:3. There are thirteen other words in this short section that are found nowhere else in John’s Gospel.
PAGE FIVE
CRUSADES, INQUISITION, AND WITCH BURNING etc.
The Catholic Church has a terrible past history on killings and torture in the name of religion during the years of the crusades, inquisition, and witch burning.
Their churches have a terrible history of abuse while operating laundries, residential schools and denying condom use in Africa while aids was running rampage.
The abuse by the clergy (several denominations) of children is well known and worldwide.
OUTSIDE SOURCES:
No one has the slightest physical evidence to support a historical Jesus. No artifacts, dwelling, works of carpentry, or self-written manuscripts. All claims about Jesus derive from writings of other people. There occurs no contemporary Roman record that shows Pontius Pilate executing a man named Jesus. Devastating to historians, there occurs not a single contemporary writing that mentions Jesus. All documents about Jesus came well after the life of the alleged Jesus from either: unknown authors, people who had never met an earthly Jesus, or from fraudulent, mythical or allegorical writings. Although one can argue that many of these writings come from fraud or interpolations, I will use the information and dates to show that even if these sources did not come from interpolations, they could still not serve as reliable evidence for a historical Jesus, simply because all sources about Jesus derive from hearsay accounts. No writer of history from the time of Jesus mentions that he existed except Josephus and scholars now know it to be a forgery: http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm
NOAH’S FLOOD STORY
The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the flood story similar to Noah’s Ark long before the bible story. It also tells a similar story of man being created. This was long before the bible.
JESUS:
The following are a few verses about Jesus being against peace and telling people they must hate their families.
Jesus never wrote a word. Everything about Jesus is second hand and written several generations after his death.
Jesus never wrote a word. Everything about Jesus is second hand and written several generations after his death.
The "Golden Rule" had been said many times by earlier religious leaders. (Confucius: "Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.") 500 years before Jesus.
The birth of Jesus was heralded with "Peace on Earth," yet Jesus said,
"Think not that I am come to send peace: I came not to send peace but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." (Luke 22:36) "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." (Luke 19:27.
2 ¶ If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
Ask yourself, “Do you think that I should be killed because I am an atheist, as Jesus & God commanded above?”
WHO SHOULD DO THE KILLING?
PAGE SIX
DO YOU HATE YOUR MOTHER AND DAD, FAMILY AND EVEN YOURSELF
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)
"I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matthew 10:35-3
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. Matthew 10:37
JESUS FULFILLS THE LAW
People use the excuse “ but that was in the Old Testament and doesn’t apply since Jesus”
Mathew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
CRAZY BIBLICAL PASSAGES
Mark16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Would you pick up a deadly snake or drink deadly things or babble a language because the Bible says to. People, speaking in tongues, reminds me of my childhood playing cowboys & Indians & pretend to talk in Apache.
WOMEN (The bible is against WOMEN)
Below are just a couple of verses degrading women. The bible is full of verses condemning women.
"I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."
--Genesis 3:16
By this third chapter of Genesis, woman lost her rights, her standing--even her identity, and motherhood became a God-inflicted curse degrading her status in the world.
In the New Testament, the bible decrees:
"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."
--1 Tim. 2:11-14
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
PAGE SEVEN
EVIL IN THE WORLD
If there was a loving God, why is their so much evil in the world. There have been more people killed in the name of religion than from any other cause. Why is there diseases, virus’, tsunamis. Hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes etc. Why are thousands of people dying of starvation. Why not create a more perfect world.
Isaiah 45:7
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
JESUS WAS NOT BORN OF A VIRGIN
The word Almah was translated as virgin when it means young woman
GEOGRAPHY
Why is it people are usually of the same religion of their parents. If you are catholic, chances are your parents, grandparents, etc., were catholic.
Why is it people born in Iran are mostly Muslim, people born in India are Hindu, People born in the southern USA are Baptists etc.
Why are the least religious countries like Denmark, have the highest standard of living, while the most religious countries
Countries free of religion are the most socially advanced, data show
Why, in the USA are the most religious states the most worst off & poorest, while the least religious states, the best off.
Consider, for instance, the latest special report just put out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (and recently summarized on the website 24/7wallstreet.com), which lists the ten states with the worst/best quality of life. According to this multivariate analysis which takes into account a plethora of indicators of societal well-being, those states in America with the worst quality of life tend to be among the most God-loving/most religious (such as Mississippi and Alabama), while those states with the best quality of life tend to among the least God-loving/least religious (such as Vermont and New Hampshire).
CREATOR AND CREATION
The creation story is so absurd about the universe being created in six days.
1) The context in which the word yom is used in Genesis 1:5-2:2, describing each day as “the evening and the morning,” makes it quite clear that the author of Genesis meant 24-hour periods. The references to “evening” and “morning” make no sense unless they refer to a literal 24-hour day. This was the standard interpretation of the days of Genesis 1:5-2:2 until the 1800s when a paradigm shift occurred within the scientific community, and the earth's sedimentary strata layers were reinterpreted. Whereas previously the rock layers were interpreted as evidence of Noah's flood, the flood was thrown out by the scientific community and the rock layers were reinterpreted as evidence for an excessively old earth. Some well-meaning but terribly mistaken Christians then sought to reconcile this new anti-flood, anti-biblical interpretation with the Genesis account by reinterpreting yom to mean vast, unspecified periods of time.
If you say God created the earth & universe in six days, The Universe has billions of galaxies and planets. Just go to http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/the_universe and see for yourself.
HELL
How come hell is so recent and only introduced by meek and mild Jesus. Hell is not mentioned in the Old Testament.
PAGE EIGHT
EARTH SPECIES
More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described.
Ask yourself, why did God create all these animals & then let them go extinct? Isn’t that poor planning.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW COSMOS
Let’s now ask how the Christian faith fits in with our current scientific understanding of the cosmos, which far exceeds that of just a few decades ago. The universe visible from Earth contains an estimated 150 billion galaxies, each galaxy containing on the order of a hundred billion stars. It is known to be 13.8 billion years old, with an uncertainty of less than 100 million years. The most distant object we can in principle see is now 46 billion light-years away, taking into account the expansion of the universe during the time the photons carrying its image traveled to our telescopes. This marks a horizon beyond which we cannot see because light has not had the time to reach us in the age of the universe.
God-belief does not answer any questions; it just replaces a mystery with another mystery.
FIRST CAUSE ARGUMENT
If everything has to have a creator, then who created GOD
If god made everything, then who made god?
How come the creation story has several errors like not creating light till the fourth day. Was everything in darkness? How can plants come before the sun when plants need the sun to survive?
How can the earth be only six thousand years old, when the light coming from the stars, are millions of light years away. How can stars fall to the earth, as the bible says, when stars are actually other suns much larger that the earth.
Astronomy clearly has shown that the earth was NOT created before the sun, stars, etc. (as told in Genesis)..
THE COMMANDMENTS
The first four commandments are only about worshipping an insecure God.
If you were God, would you need to be worshipped?
How come the ten commandments say to “love thy mother & father”, when Jesus says you must “hate your mother & father” to be one of his followers.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. Matthew 10:37
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26
Couldn’t you not think of more important rules like being against rape, incest, wash to prevent germs etc.
How come there are different versions of the ten commandments in the bible. Why is there a commandment to not boil a goat in its mother’s milk.
NUMBER OF GODS
How would one know which God to worship. With thousands to choose from, there can only be one true God. Mithra, Zeus, Thor, Allah, Yahweh, to mention a few. Most people are atheists in regard to all other except the one they worship, I just go one God farther. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimated 34,000 denominations in 2000, rising to an estimated 43,000 in 2012.
How come several earlier Gods like Mithra were born of a virgin, died and were resurrected and had twelve followers etc just like Jesus. It’s obvious Christians copied Pagan Rituals. Scholars know Jesus wasn’t born December 25 but copied the Winter Soltice of the Pagans. Bible says it was in the spring.
Celebrations like Easter are named after a Pagan God Ester. The days of the week are named after Pagan Gods. Thursday named after the God Thor, Saturday named after the god Saturn are a couple of examples,
PAGE NINE
Christmas copied Pagan symbols like Fir trees, Yule logs, mistletoe etc. Easter copied rabbits, eggs etc.
The world we live in is happening just like there is no God. We live in a natural world, which is very violent at times with Tsunamis, Floods, Hurricanes, Plagues, etc. Don’t you think that if there was a God, it would intervene when millions of children are dying in Africa every day, people fly planes into building killing thousands, and other horrible things occurring.
It’s time for civilization to grow up and discount ancient writings that were written before they knew what was over the next sand dune, where the sun went at night, what lightning & thunder was, & the earth was flat & the sun revolved around earth.
GOD
1) There is no evidence for a God. 2) There is no good argument for god,
3) There is no definition of a God 4) There is no agreement among believers of a God.
5) There is no definition of a spirit.
Think about it and ask yourself this question. Do you think the world today is operating like there is a God or there is no God? The next time you hear of a young child getting cancer, you hear about a tsunami killing thousands, a terrorist killing hundreds, a tornado wiping out a whole town & killing hundreds, A shooter killing young innocent children in a school or innocent movie goers, then ask yourself:
“ Is there a God looking after the affairs of this world?”
"With my atheistic glasses on I suddenly found that I had no more reconciling to do and everything that I was experiencing made sense and fit nicely within the slots of reality."
Once I let go of the god worldview, there were no more questions in the back of my mind that I had to jump through hoops to understand. Everything suddenly made sense.
The Bible says God knows you while you are still in the womb. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. He knows when a sparrow hits the ground. If this is true, he also knows when a deranged killer is about to kill 24 6 year old children & 6 teachers and still does nothing about it.
THINK ABOUT THE ABOVE & TELL ME THERE IS A GOD and don’t give me the crap about free will.
THE CLERGY PROJECT
It’s a well know fact that, people are leaving religion in troves. Ministers are also leaving. The Clergy Project has approximately 800 ministers in their group with many still in the pulpit preaching very Sunday.
Why did Bob Ripley, who ministered the largest protestant church in Canada come out as an atheist after 45 years as a preacher. Cass Midgely after 20 years, Jerry DeWitt after 25 years, Rich Lyons after 25 years, Dan Barker after 19 years, Teresa MacBain after several years to name a few.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
Templeton Prayer Study FAIL!
Way back in 2006, the John Templeton Foundation published the results of its study on prayer and its effect on people who were suffering from major heart conditions and undergoing heart surgery. The study was double-blind and used a control group. Two groups were chosen, one of which were prayed for and the other which was not, but neither were told which group they were in. A third group served as a control were prayed for and told this.
After 2.4 million dollars invested from the Templeton Foundation and 2.3 million invested from the federal government, here are the results:
1. More people (59%) in the control group suffered more complications than in the groups who did not know if they were being prayed for (51%).
2. 18% of those in the uninformed prayer group suffered major complications (including heart attack) as compared to 13% in the group that did not receive prayers.
These results have precedent: the New York Times reports on a study done in 1997 studied 40 alcoholics in recovery. Those who were prayed for did worse than those who were not.
PAGE TEN
GENICIDE
1 Samuel 15:2-3Thus saith the LORD of hosts ... go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
“But as for the towns of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall annihilate them -- the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites -- just as the LORD your God has commanded, so that they may not teach you to do all the abhorrent things that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 20:16-18 NRSV).
The worldwide flood at the time of Noah as described in Genesis, chapters 6 to 8. From the description, it almost completely wiped out the human race, with the exception of Noah, his wife and sons and their wives.
"So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded. And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon." Joshua 10:40-41
"Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." (Numbers 31:16-18)
Exodus, ch.32, v.26 - 30 : “then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the Lord's side? Then come to me!” and all the sons of Levi gathered around him. He said to them,”thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.” The sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people fell on that day. And Moses said, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day.”
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
THE REASON PEOPLE ARE LEAVING RELIGION
The culprit is the INTERNET. If you want to know anything about what is in the Bible, just google it. It is at your fingertips immediately. Like I said earlier “If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed”
THE MORE INTELLIGENT YOU ARE THE LESS RELIGIOUS YOU ARE
A recent review of studies found that religious belief is inversely associated with intelligence. That is, more intelligent people are generally less likely to be religious.
PAGE ELEVEN
ATHEIST HAVE THE MOST KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE
THE REASON RELIGION EXISTS
If there were no such thing as dying, there would be no such thing as religion. The reason religion exists is because people can’t be honest and face the facts, when you die it’s all over. Every religious person is looking for a ticket to a heaven that does not exist. Like I said earlier, it’s time for Civilization to grow up.
Religious people believe they were born flawed.
We humans have won the lottery by being born. The odds of being born are huge when you think of the amount of sperm deposited into your mother & you were the lucky one who made it to the egg. Then think of the generations before you that made it to the egg. Like I said, the odds or you being born were a huge and you need to appreciate that you were the lucky one and enjoy your life because it’s the only one you are going to get. When you realize this, you will appreciate life to it’s fullest and realize you are lucky to be able to live & die.
The volume and content of the ejaculate depend on the length of time between ejaculations. The average volume of semen is 2.75 milliliters(ml), ranging from 2-6 ml, the higher volumes following periods of Abstinence. An average human ejaculate contains about 180 million sperm (66 million/ml), but some ejaculates contain as many as 400 million sperm. Both quantity and quality of the sperm are important determinants of fertility. A man is considered clinically infertile if his sperm concentration falls below 20 million/ml semen. # (Just remember though- it only takes ONE to make a baby) https://www2.oakland.edu/biology/lindemann/spermfacts.htm
JUST THINK, The Day You Were Conceived, 180 million possible siblings didn’t get opportunity to live & die.
PAGE ELEVEN
UNITED STATES WAS NOT FOUNDED ON CHRISTIAN VALUES
The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. ... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding....
These are not the words of a man who wishes to establish a Christian theocracy. Jefferson promoted tolerance above all and said earlier that his statute for religious freedom in Virginia was “meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammeden, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.” He specifically wished to avoid the dominance of a single religion.
Let us be perfectly clear: We are not now, nor have we ever been, a Christian nation. Our founding fathers explicitly and clearly excluded any reference to “God” or “the Almighty” or any euphemism for a higher power in the Constitution. Not one time is the word “god” mentioned in our founding document. Not one time.
The facts of our history are easy enough to verify. Anybody who ignorantly insists that our nation is founded on Christian ideals need only look at the four most important documents from our early history — the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Federalist Papers and the Constitution — to disprove that ridiculous religious bias. All four documents unambiguously prove our secular origins.
The Treaty of Tripoli
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
The preliminary treaty began with a signing on 4 November, 1796 (the end of George Washington's last term as president). Joel Barlow, the American diplomat served as counsel to Algiers and held responsibility for the treaty negotiations. Barlow had once served under Washington as a chaplain in the revolutionary army. He became good friends with Paine, Jefferson, and read Enlightenment literature. Later he abandoned Christian orthodoxy for rationalism and became an advocate of secular government. Joel Barlow wrote the original English version of the treaty, including Amendment 11. Barlow forwarded the treaty to U.S. legislators for approval in 1797. Timothy Pickering, the secretary of state, endorsed it and John Adams concurred (now during his presidency), sending the document on to the Senate. The Senate approved the treaty on June 7, 1797, and officially ratified by the Senate with John Adams signature on 10 June, 1797. All during this multi-review process, the wording of Article 11 never raised the slightest concern. The treaty even became public through its publication in The Philadelphia Gazette on 17 June 1797So here we have a clear admission by the United States in 1797 that our government did not found itself upon Christianity. Unlike the Declaration of Independence, this treaty represented U.S. law as all U.S. Treaties do (see the Constitution, Article VI, Sect.2: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.")
Although the Treaty of Tripoli under agreement only lasted a few years and no longer has legal status, it clearly represented the feelings of our Founding Fathers at the beginning of the American government.
PAGE TWELVE
THE 4 MOST ASKED QUESTIONS TO AN ATHEIST FROM A BELIEVER
Where to you get your morals, if not from the Bible?
The Bible is the last place I would go. The Bibles views on the treatment of women, gays, slavery, & family values like having to hate your mother & fathers is despicable.
My morality is based on not causing any harm and what is fair. When people say to me “You have such good Christian values and will make a good Christian”, I am highly insulted.
What if you are wrong?
This is well known as Pascal’s Wager. When I’m asked this question, my answer to the questioner is,
What if you are wrong? How would one know which God to worship. With thousands to choose from,
there can only be one true God. Mithra, Zeus, Thor, Allah, Yahweh, to mention a few.
Most people are atheists in regard to all others except the one they worship. I just go one God farther.
If there is no God, what stops you from killing, stealing & raping etc?
My answer is, I do all the killing, stealing & raping I want, which is zero.
The churches have spent years trying to demonize atheist into something that is not true. All of the atheist that I know, are very outstanding citizens contributing to make our world a better place. Why are very wealthy atheist people like Bill &
Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet etc. giving away their fortunes to charity. I don’t see Pat Robertson, Joel Olsteen, Rick Warren, giving his fortune to away charity.
Look up the word Godless in the dictionary and it says evil, wicked, sinful. This had got to change.
What about free will
Christians believe they have free will when God doesn’t even have free will.
The Freewill Argument for the Nonexistence of God
The Christian God is defined as a personal being who knows everything. According to Christians, personal beings have free will. In order to have free will, you must have more than one option, each of which is avoidable. This means that before you make a choice, there must be a state of uncertainty during a period of potential: you cannot know the future. Even if you think you can predict your decision, if you claim to have free will, you must admit the potential (if not the desire) to change your mind before the decision is final.
A being who knows everything can have no "state of uncertainty." It knows its choices in advance.
This means that it has no potential to avoid its choices, and therefore lacks free will. Since a being that lacks free will is not a personal being, a personal being who knows everything cannot exist.
Therefore, the Christian God does not exist.
REASONS CHRISTIANS GIVE FOR BELIEVING
1) Why has the bible has been around for 2000 years if its not true.
The Roman empire converted to Christianity to control the masses. The crusades gave people no choice. You either said you were a Christian or you were put on the rack. Some choice, either believe or die.
One of the earlier Popes was quoted as saying this myth of Jesus has been very good for the church.
It was Pope Leo X who made the most infamous and damaging statement about Christianity in the history of the Church. His declaration revealed to the world papal knowledge of the Vatican's false presentation of Jesus Christ and unashamedly exposed the puerile nature of the Christian religion. At a lavish Good Friday banquet in the Vatican in 1514, and in the company of "seven intimates" (Annales Ecclesiastici, Caesar Baronius, Folio Antwerp, 1597, tome 14), Leo made an amazing announcement that the Church has since tried hard to invalidate.
Raising a chalice of wine into the air, Pope Leo toasted:
"How well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us and our predecessors."
2) Why did the disciples give up their lives if it’s not true. The bible mentions only how two died & one was Judas.
One verse says he was hanged & another says he fell & his guts fell out. James died by sword.
3) Everything that doesn’t make sense is just a metaphor. What a cop out.
4) Six Day Creation isn’t 24 hour days
The Hebrew word for day, yom, as in English, is used both for a literal, twenty-four-hour day and also for an indefinite period of time, such as in the expression “For the day of the Lord is at hand” (Joel 1:15). However, the word, yom, always means a twenty-four-hour literal day when it is used with a numeral—day one, day two, first day, second day, etc. There are no exceptions to this rule. In the Genesis Creation account, yom is used with a numeral, indicating that it intends the reader to understand that these are literal days of twenty-four hours.
http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/did-creation-take-place-6-literal-days#main-content
We can determine how yom should be interpreted in Genesis 1:5-2:2 simply by examining the context in which we find the word and then comparing its context with how we see its usage
http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/did-creation-take-place-6-literal-days#main-content
We can determine how yom should be interpreted in Genesis 1:5-2:2 simply by examining the context in which we find the word and then comparing its context with how we see its usage
PAGE THIRTEEN
elsewhere in Scripture. By doing this we let Scripture interpret itself. The Hebrew word yom is used 2301 times in the Old Testament. Outside of Genesis 1, yom plus a number (used 410 times) always indicates an ordinary day, i.e., a 24-hour period. The words “evening” and “morning” together (38 times) always indicate an ordinary day. Yom + “evening” or “morning” (23 times) always indicates an ordinary day. Yom + “night” (52 times) always indicates an ordinary day.
The context in which the word yom is used in Genesis 1:5-2:2, describing each day as “the evening and the morning,” makes it quite clear that the author of Genesis meant 24-hour periods. The references to “evening” and “morning” make no sense unless they refer to a literal 24-hour day. This was the standard interpretation of the days of Genesis 1:5-2:2 until the 1800s when a paradigm shift occurred within the scientific community, and the earth's sedimentary strata layers were reinterpreted. Whereas previously the rock layers were interpreted as evidence of Noah's flood, the flood was thrown out by the scientific community and the rock layers were reinterpreted as evidence for an excessively old earth. Some well-meaning but terribly mistaken Christians then sought to reconcile this new anti-flood, anti-biblical interpretation with the Genesis account by reinterpreting yom to mean vast, unspecified periods of time.
STUPID ANSWERS BELIEVERS GIVE FOR TRAGEDYS
1. God has a plan for us all (otherwise known as, “There’s a reason for everything”).
2. God must have had a reason for taking your (relative) so young (a personalized version of No. 1).
3. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
4. Your (Relative) will be waiting for you in heaven.
5. He’s looking down on you and keeping you safe.
6. God called him home.
7. It was just his time.
8. He was too good for this world.
9. God must have needed another angel.
10. God never gives us more than we can handle.
When I talk to very religious people, they always bring up about civilization is flawed. They say we were born flawed.
When I talk to very religious people, they always bring up about civilization is flawed. They say we were born flawed.
We have free will & a soul & nothing to lose by believing.
MAJOR CONCERNS
I am very concerned about the future for our civilization and the future for my grandkids when religion is interfering into our government, education, health, and our human rights Etc. When politicians say they go into politics or invade countries because their god told them to, it worries me.
Do you see why I do not respect the biblical message? It is an insulting bag of nonsense. You have every right to torment yourself with such insanity- but leave me out of it. I have better things to do with my life.
I understand that earlier generations did their best to try to figure out the mysteries of life, but why do people rely of ancient writings of goat herders, who didn’t know what was over the next sand dune or were the sun went at night. They didn’t understand what lightning, thunder, hurricanes etc. was & tried to explain by inventing a God. It’s time for civilization to abandon myths & superstition and grow up and live in reality.
Please accept this document as my last request upon dying. I wish no religious reference of any kind.
I wish no funeral, but will accept a get together with friends and family to celebrate my life. I knew for a long time that this is the only life I will ever have. I feel just lucky to be able to die because of the odds of ever being born were enormous. My sperm beat 180 million to the egg & never had the chance to live. I am extremely thankful to have met and married my wife Marg. I could not have had the great life I have experienced without her love and support. My sons and their wives and my five grandchildren have given my life so much pleasure. Please do not mourn me, as I will die knowing I have had a great experience and a very fulfilled life. I have no wish as to what my wife decides to do with my body. She can have me cremated, or my body given to science.
Signed, Robert xxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------------
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