By Michael Runyan ~  S uppose there is a dog owner who is exasperated that his dog never seems to behave well. Periodically he punishes the dog, but this doesn’t seem to promote better behavior. Subsequently, the dog becomes very sick and taking it to the vet reveals a serious heart problem. The vet recommends putting the dog down. But the dog owner has a different plan. He is concerned that this dog will die and ‘get away’ with being such a bad dog- that is, the punishment he has received so far is less than what he deserved. Therefore, he purchases a heart and lung machine and hooks the dog up to it. Suddenly, the dog regains his health. Now the owner goes to work, torturing the dog incessantly, poking it with knives, burning it with hot coals, punching in the face, etc. He tries to keep the dog alive for as long as he can to deliver the maximum amount of pain possible. The dog suffers and burns and chokes and howls and cries throughout his torture. Now, what is the analogy ...

By Michael Runyan ~ R eligions roll with the times and the tides. A good example of that is what has happened in the United States over the past 50 years. Back then, Jesus was ambivalent about abortion. Now he is solidly anti-abortion. Back then he cared deeply about poor people, but the modern Jesus opposes almost all forms of poverty assistance from food stamps to Social Security. He was also a great healer who ministered to the sick, but lately he is opposed to universal health care and Medicaid. Five decades ago, Jesus was a pacifist (turn the other cheek), but now he is a stand-your-ground man toting a semi-automatic rifle and 25-bullet clip – yes, he opposes all forms of gun control. He has also gone from not being concerned about gay people to now seeing them as sinful reprobates. He was primarily a socialist in biblical times, but today he is a staunch capitalist despising government interference. He wore long hair during his time on earth (or so the paintings of him imply)...

By Michael Runyan ~ I magine there is a summer camp with lots of children. It is a typical one-week affair with a staff of administrators. On the first day, a child finds a letter that states, “On the third day I will arrive at the camp. Every child who paints a star on their forehead will be taken to an amusement park while those who don’t will stay behind and spend all day cleaning the camp.”  It is signed ‘Bob.’ Nobody knows who Bob is, assuming he is a real person, or whether he or someone else wrote the letter. Most of the children dismiss this as a prank and take no note of its requirement. In fact, they later find other letters signed by other names making similar promises. However, a few kids, who somehow believe ‘Bob’s’ letter is possibly true while the others are fake, paint the star ‘just in case.’ Sure enough Bob shows up on the third day and takes them to an amusement park. The disgruntled remainder, many of whom followed the directions of other (now to be s...

By Michael Runyan ~ C hristians luxuriate in the romantic idea that Jesus died on the cross as a way to vicariously accept the penalty for their sins, thus providing them access to heaven. What is commonly overlooked is that by accepting this theology one is by default acquiescing to the legitimacy of the ancient practice of killing innocent animals as a means to gain propitiation from the gods. The Cross blatantly continued a theme that no longer makes sense nor meets modern moral or ethical standards. In other words, to be a Christian and also be consistent, you have to agree that at one time God ordered or accepted the sacrifice of animals as the principal method for forgiving human sin. After all, Jesus was the ultimate ‘animal sacrifice’ that obviated the need to continue the practice going forward. It would seem far more likely that the idea of sacrificing animals to appease the gods originated in human rather than divine minds (and indeed this practice preceded biblical ti...

By Michael Runyan ~ R eligion creates two major problems neither of which God is doing anything about. First, there is the situation where many religions exist and conflict with each other, leading to hatred and violence being spewed across theological battle lines. If everyone followed the same religion in same way, things would be a lot better, but not completely. This leads into the second major problem with religion. It tends to be tethered to the mores, ethics, and knowledge existing at the time of its creation. That combined with an inherent resistance to change leads to the penetration of archaic themes into modern times with its more evolved zeitgeist. For example, Christianity was consistent with the morality existing in its early years, with its defense of slavery, repudiation of homosexuality, subjugation of women, teaching of creationism, disregard of animal rights or the health of the biosphere, but these ideas have now lost their respectability. Thus even if only o...

By Michael Runyan ~ I t can be said that Jesus, assuming he actually existed, was the engineer of the Christian religion and that Paul was the architect. As we know, in the design of any structure, engineers must work together with the architects to ensure a sound, functional, and aesthetic finished product. But it didn’t happen in this case. Jesus was already dead by the time that Paul had his alleged vision, so a direct collaboration was not possible between the two men. But Paul had the ability to interview Jesus’ disciples and learn the essence of Jesus’ teachings. It is evident that he didn’t do this or even consider it to be necessary. He acted as if he knew more about Jesus than the disciples, a clearly implausible claim. If Paul had been a legitimate ambassador for the Christian faith, he would have joined up with the disciples immediately after his flash encounter and learned what Jesus did and what he said. In his letters we should read things like this: ‘My fellow w...

By Michael Runyan ~ M any Christian Protestant and evangelical denominations believe that Jesus’ second visit to our planet will entail a rapture, or gathering, of his faithful followers, transporting them instantly off of the earth and into a heavenly realm. This idea is fueled by the following scripture as well as others: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. -- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 At the instant this happens, there will likely be millions of pregnant women who will have met the requirements to be included in this event. What will happen with their pregnancies? Surely, the fetuses will not be killed, so it must be assumed that the women will give birth in heaven and that th...

By Michael Runyan ~ I t is one thing for Christians to say that God established a New Covenant that superseded the Old Covenant, allowing for the somewhat unusual though not totally implausible idea that God changed his mind about how he wanted to interact with humans. But it is altogether another thing to say that God changed his very essence. That is- after being a unity God, he suddenly split himself into three persons. If God was a trinity of persons all along, how likely is it that that he hid this characteristic of himself for hundreds of years from his chosen people? And if he wasn’t a trinity of persons up until the time of Jesus, how likely is it that he split himself into three parts at that time? Neither scenario makes any sense. Christianity suffers from its total dependence on Judaism as its foundation. If this god is real, he doesn’t change and also he doesn’t deceive, but Christians must concede one of those two options- either he did change or else he did deceiv...

By Michael Runyan ~ T he following lists beliefs that most Christians hold, with a commentary on how to view them more objectively: God’s nature is triune. This is sometimes expressed as the doctrine of the Trinity or “three persons in one God”. These are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. No, it is three gods and Christianity is polytheistic. They might all have the same purpose and can telepathically communicate with each other, but they are three separate beings as described. The Trinity was invented out of necessity after Jesus was made into a god in order to prevent Christianity from being tainted by the specter of polytheism that was the main criticism of the pagan traditions. There exists a spirit world – angels and demons – that was created by God. This includes the devil (also known as Satan or Lucifer). No, there is no evidence of any spirit beings whether they be angels or demons. Based on our current understanding of the mind/body relationship, a massless ...

By Michael Runyan ~ W hich books constituted the Christian biblical canons of both the Old and New Testament was generally established by the 5th century, despite some scholarly disagreements. Following this time, there were a few alterations made by various groups of Christians, but, universally, it was agreed that no contemporary writings could ever be added and further that nothing written after about CE150 was eligible. The question is why was this artificial cut-off time enforced? Why couldn’t God or the Holy Spirit inspire a more modern person to write, or dictate, an update from God that could then be placed in the Bible? Some Christians point to to the following verse to argue this point: I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree...

By Michael Runyan ~ W ithin the past few decades, human technology has advanced to the point where a message can be delivered to well over half of the earth’s population in a matter of seconds. The message can arrive without any alterations or interpolations, pristinely accurate to the author’s original creation. Although, there can be arguments about the intent or meaning of the message, the exact text is not in dispute. By contrast, when God decided to send a message to mankind, his revelation was limited to an area less than 1% of the earth’s surface area and to less than 1% of the earth’s population. Over time, the message was adulterated by thousands of inadvertent and purposeful changes resulting from human interference. When we contrast the two scenarios, it is amazing to see how humans have reached a point where they can out-perform the messaging capability of the Christian god. Some skeptics have questioned why God has not used the internet to deliver an updated messag...

By Michael Runyan ~ I t is common for various authorities to make predictions of future events as a means for society to prepare for such eventualities, such as, for example, the path of a hurricane, the arrival of cold or hot weather, rain, or snow, the prognosis and timing of recovery from various diseases, future economic activity levels, the growth of wildfires, tides and flooding levels, and harvesting amounts related to agriculture. In the Christian world, these predictions would not necessarily be amenable to observations of current conditions, an examination of past experience, or use of analytical models because the world would be continually subject to the whims of various supernatural agents, such as demons, angels, Satan, God (in three personages), or a multitude of saints (depending on the particular denomination). Answered prayers could also throw off any of these predictions. The success rate would be low and not improving over time. In a world governed by natura...

By Michael Runyan ~ T hose of us who have left Christianity are often challenged by Christian family and friends to state the reasons why. Without going into detail, there is an easy and effective way to explain why Christianity is definitely not true. It is done in four easy steps: Demons- if Christianity is true, then demons must exist. After all, dealing with demons was a big part of Jesus’s ministry. They should be an important and indisputable part of our lives, and, like mosquitoes, a pesky irritant if not a real threat. They should be causing many of our diseases and speaking back in our native language when challenged. There should be a branch of science that studies them. Nope, nada, none of this is true. Angels- if Christianity is true, then angels must exist. We should be encountering them often, seeing them as they take human form and as they make important pronouncements. They can even kill us if they so desire and they can brandish burning swords to keep us out o...

By Michael Runyan ~ I n 1 Corinthians 3:18-20, we read a revealing scripture: Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” ; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." So, according to this scripture, the discovery of the germ theory of disease and the development of treatments and vaccines to prevent the death and suffering of millions of people was ‘foolishness’ in God’s sight. Even though God himself, through Jesus, failed to provide this insight. The absurdity of this scripture is evident. Newton’s theory of gravity- foolishness. Copernicus’s model of the solar system- foolishness. Einstein’s theory of relativity- foolishness. This list could go on forever, but the conclusion is the same. God sees human wisdom as foolish...

By Michael Runyan ~ I f we assume that Jesus was a real person who preached the coming of a kingdom and that he was crucified by the Romans for the crime of sedition- claiming that he would rule over a new kingdom in Judea, then we can, with a measured degree of speculation, identify three men who were instrumental in the formation of the Christian religion as it currently exists. Remove any of these three and Christianity would not exist today, or else it would be a very small sect. 1. Joseph of Arimathea Joseph must have had a personal connection to Pontius Pilate, because he was able to convince Pilate to let him take possession of Jesus’s body after only a few hours on the cross, when normally crucified people were left on their crosses for several days or even a week, long after they had died, such that the bodies decayed and were attacked by birds. He placed the body in his personal tomb and rolled the stone in place at the entrance. (The idea that a Roman guard was st...

By Michael Runyan ~ T hroughout the Old Testament, God is highly concerned about tribal issues, government, wars, and the capture of land for his chosen people, including the taking of slaves and property from the surrounding tribes. Everything is focused on this life on this planet, with no concerns about an afterlife or the existence of any eternal consequences. But all of this changes in the New Testament. Now God is no longer concerned about politics, petty rules, land, wars, or anything related to the particulars of this life. Everything is focused on a second life that is to come after this one. He teaches his followers to eschew the material aspects of this life, to not marry, or accumulate possessions. The earthy life is seen as nothing more than a test for entry into the next one. It is more than obvious that the god of the Old Testament is not the same as the god of the New Testament. This disconnect is not a solvable problem for Christianity. If the god of the Old Te...

By Michael Runyan ~ I t is universally uncontroversial that children are highly vulnerable to being be inculcated with the religion of their parents, and, possessing little critical thinking skills, they rarely turn away from their faith until possibly later in life. However, most, it is assumed, stay with their childhood indoctrination for the remainder of their lives. Here is where Christianity fails an important test of logic and fairness. If the criterion for entry into heaven is as suggested by the Apostle Paul and the Gospel of John, that acceptance of Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross is both necessary and sufficient to spend eternity in heaven, then those children born into hon-Christian homes are at a decidedly unfair disadvantage. Unlike the pre-programmed children, they have to somehow extract themselves from their family faith, often suffering severe domestic repercussions, and discover the ‘truth’ of Christianity. This is like running a race while giving some a b...

By Michael Runyan ~ N o one argues the fact that Christian prayers have consistently failed to result in the grow-back of amputated limbs. There is no reputable report of this ever happening. Given this universal agreement, the challenge is to explain why. For an atheist, the explanation is simple- the human body is not capable to regenerate limbs, other than a few minor items like fingertips. This ability was lost long ago in our evolutionary past. Our distant cousins, starfish and salamanders, have retained this capability. For the Christian, the explanation becomes more problematic, especially in the wake of scriptures like this: John 14:13 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The stock apologetic answer is that God does not want to perform acts that would not leave doubters a way to remain in their doubt, or remove the need for believers to have faith. So the only prayers he will answer are those that appea...

By Michael Runyan ~ S ometimes the best way to assess the credibility of a story is to distill its elements down and present it in the customary fashion of a fairy tale. This washes away the veneer of authenticity that is provided by the inclusion of multitudinous details. So, for Christianity, its condensed version might sound something like this: A virgin woman who never had sex nevertheless became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. This boy grew up to be a man who was at the same time the creator of the entire universe. The man walked on water and talked to demons who obeyed his commands. He could change water into wine and heal any affliction. The man was killed, but he came back to life. Then he flew up into outer space and was never seen again. What part of this does not sound like a fairy tale? What part of this story reflects any semblance of the world that present-day people inhabit? If you had told this story to any person who had not been previously exposed t...

By Michael Runyan ~ C hristian worshipers often praise Jesus as being the Prince of Peace, even despite what he is alleged to have said in Matthew 10:34 (‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword’). But putting that aside, there are other scriptures that seem to support the peace meme. However, there is one aspect of his ministry that completely annihilates this colloquial moniker, and it is best expressed by this quote from Christopher Hitchens: The god of Moses would call for other tribes, including his favorite one, to suffer massacre and plague and even extirpation, but when the grave closed over his victims he was essentially finished with them unless he remembered to curse their succeeding progeny. Not until the advent of the Prince of Peace do we hear of the ghastly idea of further punishing and torturing the dead. In this one statement, we can see all sorts of problems with Christianity: A universal god...