God Burns My Kids to Show Himself?

By Incongruous Circumspection

A week ago, my one-year old daughter dumped a scalding hot thermos of
coffee down the front of her shirt. It was entirely my fault and I was
devastated. Luckily, her burns were only minor with two small spots
where it burned through to the fourth dermis layer. It has healed
quickly and she is on the fast track to recovery. Unfortunately, the
lasting effect is that we have to monitor the worst areas for the next
two years so they don't get sunburned. Then, we're home free. The
doctors do not expect any scarring, which is the most important factor
to me.

The outpouring of support we received was phenomenal. Relatives called
from all over the country, friends contacted us from overseas.
Inquiries were made to relatives of our relatives to check up on their
little granddaughter. It warmed me from the ends of my rarely clipped
toenails to the tips of my graying locks.

But, my wife did receive one letter that made me fall out of my chair.
I do not hold this person accountable for these words because it is a
mainstream Christian concept that they parroted. I also must say that
it did not affect me at all, emotionally. I have very thick skin and,
frankly, arguments like this are so easy to logically see through to
the other side, rendering them utter foolishness.

At first, the letter started out with concern about my daughter and
was very warm and loving. Then, it turned weird. I quote:

"I am praying that God will work through this tragedy to help you feel
His comfort, and realize how much He truly loves you all and longs to
have a relationship with you if you'll let Him!"

Really?! So, God caused a scalding hot thermos of coffee to tip off a
table onto my daughter, giving her second degree burns and two years
of therapy just so he could save me? I'm not buying it. Now, since I
rejected that little nudge from God, is he going to throw one of my
kids over the second floor banister? If I still don't love him, will
he then maim a few more of my little children, whom I love dearly?
Maybe he'll take away my wife next time. Maybe she'll get cancer or
multiple sclerosis. Or, worse yet, I'll get the dreaded and incurable
ALS. Any way you cut it, God is perfectly happy hurting my child to
get himself a believer.

Here is my deepest question:

Why the hell would ANYONE want to believe in a selfish, immature,
narcissistic, hateful, murderous, and unloving god like that?!!! And
how is my kid being burned by god "comfort"!!? That god is not a
loving god and I will never even give him a thought. I am perfectly
capable of taking care of myself. My daughter is already well aware of
the pain a thermos of coffee can cause and won't even go near an empty
one, let alone anything that we tell her is hot. We have implemented
other safety measures throughout the years to keep our children safe
and healthy. We can do it by ourselves.

Finally, I do not blame the writer of this letter. I really don't. If
you believe in the god of the Bible, it is imperative to think this
way.

"The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and
rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes
the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth
generation." - Numbers 14:18

No amount of pretzelified theology can escape this one. God is the
same, yesterday, today, and forever. His character and sense of
justice do not change.

Stand by while I go hug my kids and tell them I love them. They will
never have to fear a non-existent being that hates them for my sins.

how to go to heaven (without the bible)

Last night, when I was sleeping with my 2 kids next to me, my mobile
phone was playing some great songs. they are sleeping like sleeping
beauty. The night was quiet.

I realized I was in heaven. You don't have to go to church to find
heaven, or traveling all around the world. Or digging up other people
mistakes or weaknesses. Or look into the bible.

Heaven is here. You don't need lots of money in your bank, or good
food, or big car, or big tv, you don't have to beg God to go to
heaven, or born again or whatever the bullshit is. YOU ARE ALREADY IN
HEAVEN.

So where do we go after death ? You can miss your heavenly life here
just to find out the answer.

Stop judging others and live peacefully, HEAVEN WILL COME TO YOU.

Good teaching from a Buddhist professor

By Rick Hanson, Ph. D

It's easy to treat people well when they treat you well. The real test
is when they treat you badly.

Think of times you've been truly wronged, in small ways or big ones.
Maybe someone stole something , turned others against you, broke an
agreement, cheated on you, or spoke unfairly or abusively.

When things like these happen, I feel mad, hurt, startled, wounded,
sad. Naturally it arises to want to strike back and punish, get others
to agree with me, and make a case against the other person in my own
mind.

These feelings and impulses are normal. But what happens if you get
caught up in reactions and go overboard? (Which is different from
keeping your cool, seeing the big picture, and acting wisely – which
we'll explore below.) There's usually a release and satisfaction, and
thinking you're justified. It feels good.

For a little while.

But bad things usually follow. The other person overreacts, too, in a
vicious cycle. Other people – relatives, friends, co-workers – get
involved and muddy the water. You don't look very good when you act
out of upset, and others remember. It gets harder to work through the
situation in a reasonable way. After the dust settles, you feel bad
inside.

As the Buddha said long ago, "Getting angry with another person is
like throwing hot coals with bare hands: both people get burned." You
can see much the same thing internationally. Gandhi put it so well:
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Sure, you need to clarify your position, stand up for yourself, set
boundaries, speak truth to power. The art – and I'm still working on
it, myself! – is to do these things without the fiery excesses that
have bad consequences for you, others, and our fragile planet.

How?

Start by getting centered, which often takes just a dozen seconds or so:

Pause – You rarely get in trouble for what you don't say or do.
Give yourself the gift of time, even just a few seconds.
Have compassion for yourself – This a moment of feeling "ouch,
that hurts, I wish this hadn't happened." A neurologically savvy trick
for activating self-compassion is to first recall the feeling of being
with someone who cares about you.
Get on your own side – This means being for yourself, not against
others. It can help to remember a time when you felt strong, like
doing something that was physically challenging, or sticking up for
someone you loved.
Make a plan – Start figuring out what you're going to do, or at
least where you'll start.

And now that you're on firmer ground, here are some practical
suggestions; use the ones you like:

Clarify the facts – What actually happened?
Rate the bad event accurately – On a 0 – 10 awfulness scale (a
dirty look is a 1 and nuclear war is a 10), how bad was it, really? If
the event is a 3 on the awfulness scale, why have emotional reactions
that are a 5 (or 9!) on the 0 – 10 upset scale?
See the big picture – Recognize the OK aspects of the situation
mixed up with the bad ones. Put the situation in the larger context of
unrelated good things happening for you, and your lifetime altogether.
See the biggest picture of all: how your experiences are continually
changing and it's not worth getting all caught up in them.
Reflect about the other person – Consider the "10,000 causes"
upstream that led him or her to do whatever happened. Be careful about
assuming it was intentional; much of the time you're just a bit player
in other people's drama. Try to have compassion for them, which will
make you feel better. If applicable, take responsibility for your own
part in the matter (but don't blame yourself unfairly). You can have
compassion and forgiveness for others while still considering their
actions to be morally wrong.
Do what you can, concretely – As possible, protect yourself from
people who wrong you; shrink the relationship to the size that is
safe. Get support; it's important for others to "bear witness" when
you've been mistreated. Build up your resources. Get good advice –
from a friend, therapist, lawyer, or even the police. As appropriate,
pursue justice.
Act with unilateral virtue – Live by your code even if others do
not. This will make you feel good, lead others to respect you, and
create the best chance that the person who wronged you will treat you
better in the future.
Say what needs to be said – There is a good formula from the field
of "nonviolent communication": "When X happens (stated objectively;
not "when you are a jerk"), I feel Y (emotions; not "I fell you are an
idiot"), because I need Z (deep needs like: "to be safe, respected,
emotionally close to others, autonomous and not bossed around").

Then, if it would be useful, you can make a request for the future.
Some examples: "If I bother you, could you talk with me directly?"
"Could you not swear at me?" "Could you treat your agreements with me
and your children as seriously as you do those at work?"

Move on – For your own sake, start releasing your angry or hurt
thoughts and feelings. Stop your mind from obsessing about the past,
and focus on the present and future. Turn toward what is going well,
what you're grateful for. Do things that feel pleasurable.

In the garden of your life, you have to pull some weeds, sure, but
mainly focus on planting flowers.

Be at peace – All you can really do is what you can do. Others are
going to do whatever they do, and realistically, sometimes it won't be
that great. Many people disappoint: they've got a million things
swirling around in their head, life's been tough, there were issues in
their childhood, their ethics are fuzzy, their thinking is clouded,
etc. It's the real world, and cannot be perfected.

You have to find peace in your heart, not out there in the world. A
peace that comes from seeing clearly, from building up and focusing on
good things in your own garden, and from letting go.

* * *

Evidence that the bible is fake

By Hatuey ~

After reading atheistnurse's piece on Noah's Ark I decided to revisit
the story myself to get a better understanding of it the way she did.
Once I began reading, I noticed something in those passages that stood
out from all the rest. I also noticed that the particular subject that
those verses dealt with were not covered in atheistnurse's piece. So
with a curious mind, a healthy dose of skepticism, and a boatload of
information that I gathered from the internet and a few books I
decided to show you all the fruits of my research, but if any of you
find fault with something do let me know. I would like to use this
against any Christian that thinks that the Bible is infallible and I
wouldn't like to be on the losing side of that argument due to having
done improper or shady research. Now then, let us have a little
biology lesson.

The verses that I was referring to can be found in Genesis 6: 19-20
and they clearly state Biblegod's intention:

"You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male
and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of
every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along
the ground will come to you to be kept alive." (NIV)


Obviously anyone can see that Biblegod wanted to tell Noah that he
wants to preserve the members of the animal kingdom and wanted them to
repopulate the planet once the flood waters receded. Now, excluding
the ramifications of any genetic disease that might appear or the
possibility of incest due to every unclean animal being given the task
to propagate the species with only two individuals (Adam and Eve
anyone?), we see here that Biblegod at least knows how reproduction
works since it was he who the Bible credits with inventing it. One
male and one female is all you need in order to have offspring…or is
it?

Before I continue with this little endeavor, it is necessary for me to
explain the concept of parthenogenesis. To put it simply,
parthenogenesis (literally meaning "virgin birth" in Greek) is a form
of reproduction in which the growth and development of an embryo or
seed requires no need of fertilization by a male. Many invertebrates
have this form of asexual reproduction as part of their life cycle but
few vertebrates do. A leading exemplar of a vertebrate that is
parthenogenic is the Komodo Dragon. It is at this point that a
Christian might say "Ah but wait a minute! The female Komodo Dragon
only goes through parthenogenesis when there are no viable males to
which it can mate with. It still does not refute the necessity of
having both a male and a female to propagate the species as the Bible
clearly states. You lose!" Though it is true that female Komodo
Dragons become parthenogenic only when there are no males to be found,
I have to clarify that I only used that particular animal in order to
begin my assessment of the subject. And may I say that I'm far from
finished.

It is with great pleasure that I now introduce you all with the animal
that has helped me with my refutation of those verses. Ladies and
gentlemen, I give you Lepidodactylus lugubris. Commonly known as the
Mourning Gecko, this little lizard (just like its much larger
reptilian cousin) is also parthenogenic. Though there is a huge
difference between the two and it's a big one. You see, when you're a
Mourning Gecko you're always having a night out with the girls. Boys
are never allowed to join in for the fun because there are simply no
boys in the first place. Every single specimen from this species is
female and they manage quite fine without ever having a man around the
house (sorry guys).

Surely you all must know by now where I'm going with this. But if not,
I invite you to reread that verse that I presented earlier. The verse
clearly states one male and one female for every unclean animal. No
exceptions. A few verses later on in the story shows us that the
number of every kind of clean animal is said to be seven, though it's
still implied that there must be at least one representative of each
sex. Yet all of those verses fail to mention any hint of any lizard
with a population that only consists of females. There is no "…male
and female (except for those parthenogenic lizards which get two
females and no males) to keep them alive with you".

How can Biblegod, being all knowing, overlook such a simple thing? His
word is (according to some denominations) supposed to be infallible.
He created those lizards and their form of reproduction. Shouldn't it
say so in that holy book? It seems that the more one reads those
verses the more it appears to be quite simply that the Bible is a
collection of books written by fallible men who only had a limited
understanding of biology and that they didn't bother to lift the legs
of every animal that they encountered in order to confirm its sex.

The way I see it is that, unless there is some sort of lacuna in the
book of Genesis, any Christian claiming that the Bible has any
exemplary facts when it comes to biology doesn't know what he or she
is talking about. Should it be a case of a lacuna, then the Bible is
an incomplete work. How many Christians would dare say that? Not many
I bet.

The existence of this little Gecko has created a hole in the
historicity of the book of Genesis and though the name of this animal
has the word mourning in it, I can tell you that I'm not the one who
will feel any sorrow from this lizard. I have even made a joke about
it. Since it is a Gecko, I thought of something around the likes of
the GEICO commercial: 15 minutes of reading these verses could save
you 15% or more on brainwashing insurance. That should help people who
are recovering from leaving Christianity. Maybe we should make this
Gecko a spokesperson for our cause.

Why I Am an Anti-Theist

By Tim McGraw ~

Growing up I was an only child of a single mother in a radical
pentecostal church, there were a few men who tried to be a "father
figure" in my life. I always wanted to find my biological father, my
mother told me, "you have fathers and you know they love you." The
first thing that is wrong with that is fathers plural. There was never
just one, they were all there to "help" from time to time. But they
really only cared if they thought "my soul might be in danger." In
other words, they were only there for negative. They only cared about
correcting me and preaching to me. They, for the most part, did not
want to show actual fatherly love in the sense that a young boy would
have craved. As I got older, I was deemed a misfit. At 14 I was a
danger to the community; they told me was unable to have contact with
any of my peers for fear that I would "poison them." They did not care
about ME, they only cared about their dogma. They only cared whether
or not I would comply with their lifestyle. Beyond that, they couldn't
care less. They just assume see me rot in prison, because that would
justify to them that they were right and they could use me as an
example. My poor mother is been so brainwashed by them, she feels she
cannot make a decision without their approval. She always put them in
front of me, believing always they had her and my best interest at
heart. She believes that they are a direct line from god, and what
they feel is best has got to be god's will. They just used her for her
tremendous musical skill, and I was just an afterthought to entice her
services. They told me if I wanted to leave me and my mother would
have to move to Dennison. They would put me in public school until I
was 18. Then my mother would move back and I would be on my own. This
scared me to death. Luckily my grandparents offered to let me move in
with them. That is how I escaped.

When I got out I was mentally behind and completely unprepared. So it
has taken me the last ten years to discover who I am and what I think.
I am still of course continuing to search. I would say I am desperate
for understanding, but I am not angry at life. I know it might
sometimes come off as angry when I complain and rail about things that
I annoy me or that I disagree with. The reason I do that is because I
am an activist and an anti-theist. I like to challenge the status quo;
I do not just accept that things just are the way they are. I employ
logic and reason, and search for evidence to find out what makes sense
to me. I started using Facebook as a tool to express my opinions. I
soon found out that a lot of people do not want to exorcise their
brain and actually try understand what I am questioning and why. I
know this is an example of how religion poisons everything,
Christians do not like people to
question their doctrine. Homestead would be a prime example of this.
Therefore people who are still under the mindset of "do not question
anything, just accept it for what it is" hate when people like me dare
to question or make light of their dogma no matter how crazy it might
seem.

I recently spoke to a reporter who is investigating allegations of
abuse in the cult. My mother found out of course and decided to end
our relationship. The passage my mother quoted me supporting her
decision to discontinue our relationship is completely justified by
the bible. "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father
and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and
even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Luke 14:26 There are
scriptures that contradict that very passage. This is a prime example
of "cherry picking," picking a scripture that fits what is needed, but
ignores other scriptures that say the exact opposite. I am sure a
skilled theist can make up some justification to that scripture.
"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no
murderer has eternal life abiding in him." 1 John 3:15 not only is
that scripture completely wrong, but it contradicts the criteria of
being a follower of Jesus. Saying that someone is a murderer because
they might dislike, or even hate a person does not make them in the
slightest bit a murderer. That is like the scripture that says, "But I
tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart." Matt. 5:28 It is impossible
to control the thoughts of a person. How can you commit adultery "in
your heart?" And it is only adultery if one of the people is married.
These are scriptures similar to the commandment "Thou shall not covet
thy neighbor's goods" which is the basis for our capitalistic economy,
our society is run on the fact that people covet. What people think
cannot be regulated. Besides, if nobody ever looked at anyone with
lust, nobody would ever hook up or get married. Lust as they call it,
is just a natural function of our brain called attraction. If we were
not attracted to anyone sexually, how would we have propagated our
species?

Several theists told me to read "A Case for Christ." I read it.
Although it did not change my mind, I found it interesting. It
actually bolsters my view. I would point out that Lee was not an
atheist, he was a skeptical non-believer. He only interviewed ONE
non-Christian expert. That expert was only to say that, in his medical
opinion, Jesus could not have survived what experienced on the cross.
That is an easy conclusion to come to. The rest of the experts are
just saying why they believe the gospels to be the gospel. They might
in their expert opinion think that Jesus was not delusional, and that
he was in fact a god etc. I can concede that me might have existed,
more likely he is just a representation of people like him, prophets
who thought they were Messiah. However there is nothing, no evidence
to support that he was anything but just an influential guy who had a
lot of fans. The whole basis of Christianity is based in the concept
that everyone is born in "sin." Before Jesus, people were atoned for
by blood sacrifice. Then Jesus came and died as the final atonement
for all, but then he was resurrected and that proved that he was god
as well as human, a demigod is what the Greeks called such beings. I
reject the basis for this belief. We are not born into "sin," thus we
do not need atonement. Blood sacrifice is primitive, archaic and
brutish. It only shows that primitive people did grasp what cause
nature to work, they thought by taking life, it would in turn make the
gods happy and give back life in a sense. Remember, the ancient
central and South American natives performed human sacrifice to
appease the gods. In their minds it made the sun to come up and the
rain to fall. We find that abhorrent today, but yet the concept that a
demigod sacrificed himself in order to "save" humanity is perfectly
acceptable?

I have been reading "God is Not Great, How Religion Poisons
Everything." It is an amazing book. If you want a glimpse into my
general philosophy on the subject of religion I would recommend
reading it. I don't think that it is fair to say the reason I am
skeptical, and reject religion is because of my negative experience at
Homestead. The arguments for religion stand and fall on their own
merit. When I was younger, about 13 or so, I remember asking the
question (after learning about the ancient Greek gods) "What makes
those gods different from our god or Allah? What makes Christians
correct? What sect of Christianity is correct? Is everyone who was
unfortunate enough to be born on the wrong continent with the wrong
religion going to hell because they have not heard 'the good news?'" I
would say my skepticism started young. My activism however is because
of Homestead, I see what religious mind control does to people and
therefore I do anything in my power to undo and prevent it from
happening. I am not just an anti-theist either; I am an activist for
equal rights and freedom from tyranny for everyone as well as the
separation of church and state. My biological father is a gay,
transgendered woman. Before I even met her or knew anything about her,
I had gay friends, dated trans-women and discovered that I am
bisexual. Equal rights for everyone, especially for the LGBT community
is very important to me. I am fanatical about equal rights for
marriage, I myself do not ever plan to marry but to say two consenting
adults who want to make that kind of commitment is wrong, to me is
appalling. The government needs to live and let live. It should only
make laws in order to prevent harm to other humans. Otherwise leave us
well enough alone to think, believe and love whomever we like.

debunking Genesis from the bible

From patheos.com

The Bible, like many myths, begins with answering how the world came
to be and why it's so screwed up.

The Bible tells us that God created everything in six days. He created
Adam out of dust, and Eve out of Adam's rib. (Woman, being the
property of man, doesn't get the dignity of her own mud spawning.)
They were placed in the Garden of Eden and told they could eat of any
fruit except one. If they ate that evil forbidden fruit, they would
die that day.

Well, as you know, the snake tempts Eve, she eats the fruit and then
Adam eats some too — and what do you know, they're still alive. Soon
after, God shows up, asking, "Where art thou?" (Come on, God, do you
really not know?) When he finds them, he gets angry at their
disobedience and curses Adam, Eve, the snake and the earth.

And that's the explanation for why the world is the way it is — our
ancestors ate some forbidden fruit, God got angry, and now everything
is screwed up. That's definitely on The Top 10 List of Worst
Explanations Why the World is Screwed Up.
The Blame Falls on God

The story attempts to put the blame on man, but fails. The blame falls on God.

Man was doing what he does best — eating things that look delicious
and disobeying rules for which he has no reason to obey. Only the
snake gave an explanation, who said man's eyes would be open, and they
would know good from evil — that they would be like God. And you know
what? The snake was right!

God was the one who made man with a nature that is susceptible to
temptation. God made the tree look delicious and tempting. God made
man to require reasons — and didn't give him any. God created the
snake and let him into the garden. And God knew all this would happen,
yet still setup things so man would disobey him!

Man is not at fault — God is. This myth does not get God off the hook
for what a crazy, screwed up world we live in — it would make him
responsible for it.

What kind of God would punish so many innocent people and animals
throughout history because of one sin that he orchestrated to happen?
Why did he put the tree there anyway? Why did he make the tree have
magical properties so that when they ate Adam and Eve "knew good from
evil" — clearly a desirable thing? And if they didn't know good from
evil before they ate the fruit, how would they have known eating it
was evil?

Some may find this story profound, but instead of answering questions,
it just creates more. Of course it's just a crazy ancient story,
though — what did you expect?

debunking "if belief was real go to heaven, fake also nothing lose" Chistian marketing idea....

Maybe some Christian Evangelist told you, if you become a Christian,
you go to heaven after you died. And if the belief was fake, there is
nothing to lose. But if you are Buddhist or other religion, you maybe
risking burning in hell forever.

What a bad marketing slogan.

First of all, if you became Christian, how do you know that you are
following the right "God" ? There are Christian God, Jehovah Witnesses
God, Latter Day Saint God, Tua Pek Kong God and many many more. So the
chances of you following the right God is like hitting Jackpot. All of
the Gods claim that they are the only one true God.

Second, if you became Christian, and at the end you found out there is
no God, you are throwing your good life away ! And you gave out your
intelligence to become a dumb and low morale person !

Heaven is here !

An Evening in Heaven

By blog fan Ah Kong. If you have good story email to 7897jl@gmail.com

This evening I was walking along a shopping mall with wife and son,
looking for dinner place. My wife was her usual self, grumbling and
saying we should go home quickly and do this and that chores and get
the kids' homeworks done and prepare for tomorrow's tests.. mumbling
and complaining with a sour face...as usual. But my 8 years old son
was walking, smilling, chatting, jumping and talking as if the world
is his.

Then it suddenly dawn on me. We are In Heaven Here on Earth... and God
is walking with my son while the Devil is walking with my wife !!

Then Great Joy filled me completely... the realisation that now I am
in Heaven, and God is with Me as I hold my son's hand and start
walking along, smiling, chatting, jumpng, and swinging our hands
together...and feeling really good. I looked at my wife... her usual
self but I feel joy and peace.. knowing that I dont have to read the
Bible, be a Christian, go to church, or do what every religious person
do... yet I am in Heaven Here On Earth... and yet God is Walking with
Me and My Son, while the Devil is walking with my wife..

So, blessed are those who believe as he will see the Kingdom of God.

Heaven is so near and so easy to enter... all you have to do is
believe and you are with God everytime.

- A True Non Christian -

ps: You you dont believe me... just stop for 1 minute, look around
you... feel the air...the wind... the smells..look at your son, your
cat, your daughter's smile..... hear the dog barking... birds... .
believe that this is Heaven .. and you will be filled with Joy...
try....

Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World

From:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/sumerians-look-on-in-confusion-as-god-creates-worl,2879/

Members of the earth's earliest known civilization, the Sumerians,
looked on in shock and confusion some 6,000 years ago as God, the Lord
Almighty, created Heaven and Earth.

According to recently excavated clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform
script, thousands of Sumerians—the first humans to establish systems
of writing, agriculture, and government—were working on their
sophisticated irrigation systems when the Father of All Creation
reached down from the ether and blew the divine spirit of life into
their thriving civilization.

"I do not understand," reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting
the sun, the moon, water, and a Sumerian who appears to be scratching
his head. "A booming voice is saying, 'Let there be light,' but there
is already light. It is saying, 'Let the earth bring forth grass,' but
I am already standing on grass."

"Everything is here already," the pictograph continues. "We do not
need more stars."

Historians believe that, immediately following the biblical event,
Sumerian witnesses returned to the city of Eridu, a bustling
metropolis built 1,500 years before God called for the appearance of
dry land, to discuss the new development. According to records,
Sumerian farmers, priests, and civic administrators were not only
befuddled, but also took issue with the face of God moving across the
water, saying that He scared away those who were traveling to
Mesopotamia to participate in their vast and intricate trade system.

Moreover, the Sumerians were taken aback by the creation of the same
animals and herb-yielding seeds that they had been domesticating and
cultivating for hundreds of generations.

"The Sumerian people must have found God's making of heaven and earth
in the middle of their well-established society to be more of an
annoyance than anything else," said Paul Helund, ancient history
professor at Cornell University. "If what the pictographs indicate are
true, His loud voice interrupted their ancient prayer rituals for an
entire week."

According to the cuneiform tablets, Sumerians found God's most
puzzling act to be the creation from dust of the first two human
beings.

"These two people made in his image do not know how to communicate,
lack skills in both mathematics and farming, and have the intellectual
capacity of an infant," one Sumerian philosopher wrote. "They must be
the creation of a complete idiot."

A priest journey out of Christianity

By "Bored Again" ~

My specialty is irreverent essays, two of which I've sent to this site
("The Lord's Prayer Laid Bare" and "Entrée to Eternity"). But I've
always enjoyed your exit testimonies and thought it time to pull mine
together. I consider myself a "3-re" guy, having journeyed from
religion to relationship to reality. I don't expect to go through a
4th "re" (i.e. reincarnation), but if that happens, I'll get back to
you. By the way, my referring to my life as a "trinity" of phases is
purely coincidental and not meant to suggest that I am "triune" in any
sense of that illogical word.

I use the pseudonym "Bored Again" because it applies to me on several
levels. The obvious one is the homonymic reference to "born again"
which I once proudly proclaimed myself to be. Also, the adjective
"bored" has applied to me at times, but does not do justice to my
mental state at the end of the first 2 stages of my life (try
"exasperated"). Finally, as a verb, "bored" describes what I did (i.e.
drilled down – I hate that phrase, but it applies here) to get to the
core of each phase of my life.

My testimony is very "danbakeresque" in that my search for meaning and
truth involved deep involvement in both religion and in a close
personal "relationship" with an imaginary being.

Re-ligion

I was born and raised a faithful and true Roman Catholic (a title
apparently bestowed upon me in utero), and the oldest of 8 children
(it took my parents a while to figure out that Vatican-approved family
planning methods are not infallible). We went to Mass and Communion
every week (plus, every day during Lent and on all 8 "holy days of
obligation"). There was confession (which I hear has been upgraded to
the "Sacrament of Reconciliation" so it won't sound like a CSI
episode) every 2 weeks, novenas, first-Friday rituals, daily family
rosary, stations of the cross, fasting, meatless Fridays, and of
course, the mandatory tribal amulets: I wore a St. Christopher medal,
a "miraculous medal" of Mary, and a sticky plastic scapular at all
times. I went to Catholic schools (where I was once hit with a ruler
by a hooded, and misnamed, Sister of "Mercy") and a Catholic college
(where I learned a valuable lesson: Jesuits like to watch young men
shower). I was a Catholic's Catholic, and in it up to (and apparently
over) my eyeballs. In fact, when I was twelve, I actually volunteered
to serve as an altar boy, but I have to admit my real motivation was
to draw the attention of a certain blonde female in my church. There I
was, wearing a bright red, dress-like cassock, prostrate at the feet
of a registered sex offender who was wearing a dunce cap and a silk
bedspread, all the while beating my chest and mumbling unintelligible
prayers in Latin. Can't imagine why the blonde didn't find that
attractive.

In seventh grade, I became convinced I was being called by god to be a
priest. I had been elected by my peers to be president of the Civics
Club and two nuns told me that this was a sure sign from God that I
was being called to the priesthood. At the time I didn't question how
my vast junior high school civics expertise qualified me for a life of
celibacy. But, I bought into it, and if it weren't for transportation
problems to the seminary, I'd be a man-in-black today.

But it was not the fanny pats by the parish priests when I was an
altar boy, or the Jesuit "fathers" at college watching me pee, that
caused me to become a Roamin' Catholic. It was the emptiness, the
silence from god. I felt like I was playing hide-and-seek with the
Invisible Man, and gave up trying to find him. As a kid, I was
obsessed with stories of miracles performed by the Catholic saints,
and wanted some of that Lourdes and Fatima action for myself. But no
matter how hard I prayed, I got nothing. I wasn't asking god to part
the Red Sea; just something simple, like making my little brother
disappear, or healing a pimple before the prom. God simply would not
cooperate and give me just one little miracle, one little sign that he
cared or even existed.

I also had noticed that the church I read about in the New Testament
bore little resemblance to today's church, and nobody could tell me
why. I questioned all the traditions, the Mary-ology, the liturgy, the
silly rituals, the vestments, and no one, not even my parents, had
answers for me. I studied Church history and came to the conclusion
that the Catholic Church was a man-made farce, based on legend and
tradition, and I no longer wanted to waste my time on it. I expressed
that feeling to a public high school teacher (and closet evangelical
Christian) and he told me that the key to meaning and truth is a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Thus began the second leg of
my journey.

Re-lationship

At first, the whole idea of a "personal relationship with Christ" did
not compute with me. It sounded like some sort of religious oxymoron.
As a Catholic, I was raised on the idea that we are "here" and god is
"there." He is a king on a throne in the sky, we are rats in the
gutter, and ne'er the twain shall meet, until you die. And even then
your chances are only 50/50. I was taught that the Bible, his inspired
word, is so sacred and mysterious, only a priest can read and
understand it. But now I was learning that I could read the holy
scriptures all by myself, that Jesus wants to be my personal buddy,
and that I could be a child of god and refer to God the Father as
"Daddy." Wow, religion up close and personal! Sounded good. Sounded
like what I had been missing, so I jumped in with both knees: got
saved, born again, baptized in the Spirit, baptized in the local
river, read the Bible from cover to cover, married a Christian girl,
joined a fundamental, evangelical, Bible-believing, pre-millenial,
post-dispensational church, and prided myself that I had solved all
the mysteries of the universe.

Over time, I became a teacher, choir member, Deacon, Elder, Sunday
School Superintendent, and Christian School Board Chairman. I even
preached a few Sunday morning sermons. My first job out of college was
teaching English at a Christian day school. Once again, I was in it up
to my eyeballs. Fortunately for me, however, the eyeballs still
worked, and eventually saved me from this disastrous phase of my life.
Though I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of a direct connection with
the Almighty, and I liked the values of the Christian community, I was
never really sold on the Bible as the "inerrant, infallible word of
god." The more I read, studied, and meditated on the "Word" the more I
realized that my "faith" in the Bible was aptly described by Mark
Twain: I was saying I believed in something I "know ain't true." I
desperately WANTED it to be god's word, but all logical evidence
pointed otherwise. I mean, I'm worried about issues like war, and
cancer, and starving children, but reading a "divine" revelation that
tells me how to cure a skin boil using fig cakes soaked in wine! I
also knew the whole inerrant/infallible thing could be blown away with
just one contradiction, and I was finding hundreds. But every time I
asked a fellow Christian about an obvious contradiction, I was given a
convoluted, illogical interpretation that could supposedly explain
away the problem. I finally realized that the defenders of the faith
had determined that biblical inerrancy was absolute rock solid truth
that nothing could shake, not logic, not science, not common sense.
After all, they would say, it says in 2Timothy 3:16 that all scripture
is inspired, so it must be true! Their circular illogic was driving me
crazy! I finally decided that I could still be a "Christian" without
buying into the whole infallibility thing.

I saw no harm in letting others live out their self-delusion about the
scriptures, there was plenty else I enjoyed at Church, as long as I
kept quiet. What finally pushed me out of the womb of Christianity (I
was born again, again) and into the real world was a debate our church
sponsored between an atheist and a local Christian apologist. The
atheist ate the apologist alive and made a very strong impression on
me. As a Catholic, and later even as a Protestant, I was a big fan of
Thomas Aquinas and liked his "proofs" for the existence of god,
especially the one noting the need for an uncaused, or first cause.
The atheist surgically dismantled that argument (via the "infinite
regression" scenario) and every other one the apologist tried. He used
crystal clear logic, with heavy doses of common sense, and I was sold.
Listening to him, I had to admit to myself that I was at least an
agnostic if not an atheist. Even though I wished with all my heart
that there was a loving god, a holy book filled with his revelations,
and a happy afterlife, I knew that I could not "decide" or "will" to
believe in these things; I either did or did not believe, based on the
evidence presented to me. And the evidence added up to my
"relationship" with Jesus being a classic case of self-delusion. Time
to face reality.

Re-ality

Most Christians I know, including my own family, are scared to death
to read anything that might put down or contradict their precious
faith. Their excuses include: "If something is not written by a known
Christian author, it is written by Satan", or "It would be a mortal
sin to read that," or "Reading it would mean that I support something
that is against my faith." My view has always been that if what I
believe is true, it will stand on its own merits. Thus, why should I
be afraid to read anything? So read I did, and thanks to the Internet,
found a ready supply of authors that experienced reality the same way
I did: rationally. I couldn't get enough of Ingersoll, Harris,
Dawkins, Hitchins, Dennett, Barker, etc, etc.. These guys were putting
into words exactly what I thought and believed deep down inside. Their
view of the world was so much more "real" than anything I had found in
my experiences with religion and divine relationship. No superstition,
no fantasy, no wishful thinking, or wild leaps of faith; just a
realistic and reasonable view of the universe.

I can honestly say that after I determined that Christianity was a
sham, I never had the separation anxiety/trauma that many on this site
have experienced. In each phase of my life I have become immersed in a
world view that, over a long period of time, I proceeded to explore
and eventually dismantle, piece by piece, based on what I observed and
understood. Both as a Catholic and as a "born again" evangelical
Protestant, I was deeply involved, but always ready to question
anything that didn't make sense. I never really felt I was a
committed, fully sold-out believer. I think, because of that, I was
spared any great feeling of loss when I moved on.

I hate branding, but if I had to call myself something today, I guess
it would be a "CPA" (Catholic Protestant Agnostic), reflecting my past
and present. I like the Dawkins approach; I won't feel like I can be
deemed an "atheist" until someone can prove to me unequivocally that a
"god" being cannot possibly exist. "Agnostic" seems to me like a more
honest term for what I am. My current understanding of god goes like
this: there doesn't have to be one, and I doubt there is, but I can't
say I know that there can't be one. In my view, we are like ants
living inside a computer, and naively confident we have the
wherewithal to figure out how it works.

How to live a happy life without christianity

A person who lives by his brain is a lot happier then another who lived by a two thousand years old fantasy novel or what people asked him / her to do.

After you have dumped your church, you will found out you have more extra cash. Buy imagine by john lennon or watch some movie in cinema. Or buy a novel.

Stop thinking like those elegant christian who always dig out other people shortcoming. You must know that all human evolved from animal and we are far from perfect. Accept people for who they were. Treat everybody equally. We are all struggling with our shortcoming. If a person was evil yesterday, he may not be evil today.

How much you have is not important, what important is how you make use of thing you had. There are many who lives with very little thing in this earth.

The world will turn to heaven.

Christians' idiotic view about science

By Stephen ~

ome people collect stamps; I critique Christian blogs for fun. So it was that I came across this little gem from the ever-delightful "Resurgence" site (yes, the stomping ground of that delightful man, Mark Driscoll), entitled "All Truth Belongs to God" [http://theresurgence.com/2012/04/11/all-truth-belongs-to-god]. Oh, I thought, this is going to be good.

The very second sentence in the blurb was the most astonishing nonsense I'd heard in months: "Nothing that is true ever contradicts God's revealed word in the Bible." If that isn't Orwellian doublethink, then what is? The author (Matt) might as well just come out and say, "Whatever the Bible says is true... even if it isn't". It reminds of a statement I recently read from the Pope (quoted in http://bigthink.com/ideas/the-radicalism-of-obedience?page=2) in which he spoke of the "radicalism of obedience" (what in the metaphorical-god's name is that?) It concerns me more than a little that Christians can reach a point where even uttering a blatant contradiction in terms is no longer a problem.

The absurdity continues:

"In our age, science and faith have become pitted against each other, like polar opposite magnets, as if there were no overlap, as if we must choose one or the other. The Scriptures don't present truth that way though. God owns all of it and is so high above our brightest minds that they seem brain damaged in comparison."

Oh wow, what a relief. The Bible says truth is never going to be an issue. First we have a slightly dubious metaphor (polar opposite magnets... wouldn't those attract each other?) and then a triumphant declaration that "God owns all of it". (Hint: triumphant declarations are basically all you'll find in this article.)

Now I understand that "Matt" really wishes that science and faith didn't contradict one another. Having been an earnest intellectually-leaning Christian myself, I used to share his wish. But wishing something doesn't make it so. This article neatly represents the attitude of so many Christians when it comes to this problem, which is why I find it so fascinating: it is a study in denial, diversion and wilful self-delusion, which are apparently essential features to being a thinking Christian these days.

Before I begin to tear apart the non-argument contained in this article, it is interesting to me that such an article needs to be written in the first place. The hidden assumption is that there are self-evident "truths" out there which contradict "God's Word". Matt doesn't even need to mention examples to his readers (try: heliocentrism, evolution by natural selection, historical criticism of the Bible, humanistic morality - to mention just a few) because by now it is probably so obvious to all but the most sheltered Christian that their faith just doesn't match up to what is obviously true about the world any more. What interesting times we live in. Christianity has lost its hegemony on what is considered true, and every thinking Christian seems to know it! So, do they do the honest and noble thing, admit they were mistaken, and give up the outdated beliefs? Not on your life! And here the fun begins...

So how does our True Believer Intellectual solve this problem? Step one: simply declare that there is no problem. This is the gist of the first part of the article. For example:

"So we should never freak out about people who claim to have discovered truth. If it's true truth, God owns it and has already accounted for it..."

(Notice how he sneaks in the word "claim". He just doesn't want to face it, does he?)

"God owns it and has already accounted for it". Translation: "You scientists think you know everything, but God knew it all along! Nya nya nya nya nya!" This is the kind of attitude that allows the Pope to declare, about 400 years too late, that Galileo was right after all, without feeling the need to answer the implications this has for belief in inerrancy of the Scriptures and the Church. Or modern evangelicals who claim that the Bible never condoned slavery, ever -tell that to their Bible-believing forebears who fought to the death for the exact opposite point of view!

What a revealing little turn of phrase: "If it's true truth..." The obvious implication is that there is such a thing as "false truth". Excuse me? So Matt desperately wants there to be just one kind of truth, but he can't avoid the fact that some of it self-evidently does contradict what he believes, so he creates a delightful distinction: there is "true truth" (i.e. whatever Christians can believe) and "false truth" (i.e. what seems to be true, but doesn't fit with Christianity). These few words undermine his entire premise. But he bashes on regardless...

"...While nothing that is true ever contradicts God's revealed word in the Bible, discovered truth sometimes contradicts the words of Christians."

Wow, there are some interesting word games going on there. We have yet another bifurcation of the supposedly unitary "truth": "revealed truth" and "discovered truth". And, in another corner, we have "the words of Christians". This is a beautiful system for filtering out any potentially threatening facts. Notice how, in his formulation, he does not put "discovered truth" (presumably, evidence-based reasoning) up against "God's revealed word". He doesn't even allow them to get in the same boxing ring. No, if evidence/science wants to pick a fight, it must go batter the Badass Bible's poor sibling, the weakling "word of Christians". Matt and BibleGod can stand by and watch science beat the living crap out of Christian "interpretation" or "opinion", then walk away arm in arm saying, "You see, those mere human understandings didn't stand a chance against truth - which of course you had all along, Big Guy".

"The truth is that the truth is ours—all truth is our truth because we are of Christ and Christ is of the sovereign God."

In other words: "All your truth are belong to us!" In case you hadn't noticed, Matt believes that what God says is true because if God says it's true, then it's true, OK? And if you don't like it then you can just go jump. In a lake. Of fire. Forever.

What follows from this point (see "God is over the macro and the micro" and "God spans it all") is a breathtaking piece of worship-as-diversion, a common feature of the modern charismatic psychological project. Enough of all that pesky worrying about facts that might contradict the Bible, let's just pretend God does exist and blow your mind with how Totally Awesome He Surely Is...

I agree that if there really was an omniscient God, he would have to be one seriously impressively complex and enormous Dude of all Dudes. He would, as Matt says, have to know "every atom and every molecule", "their positions, their locations, their functions" and so on. But that is precisely what makes the whole thing so unbelievable. Richard Dawkins' "Ultimate 747" metaphor comes to mind: to explain the creation and existence of an exceedingly complex Universe by proposing an even more complex all-seeing "creator" behind it all is to replace one stupendous mystery with an even greater one. If complex things can "only" be created by an intelligent agent (hint: this is not true), then it logically follows that God, who is even more complex than the Universe he is said to have created, needs to have been himself created by an even greater intelligence. And so on, ad absurdum.

And Matt's homily to the giant megabrain God running the Matrix simulation in which we live (and move, and have our being?) can't help but raise some achingly obvious problems, e.g.:

"From the velocity of every butterfly's flapping wings at every second to the exact amount of magma to the microgram flowing out of every volcano above and under sea level, he spans it all simultaneously and precisely."

("Magma". Say it slowly, like Doctor Evil.)

So, Goddy-Boy here knows about the movement of every microgram of magma beneath the sea? Gosh, you mean the kind of movement that causes earthquakes and tsunamis? Those things that kill thousands upon thousands of people? AND HE DOES NOTHING TO STOP THIS? Really, Matt, if there is a great Architect of this Matrix running the whole damn thing, I don't see much evidence that he's doing it for our benefit. He might just as well be a malicious Evil God (thanks, Richard Carrier) running the whole thing for some sadistic pleasure.

And then Matt ends the whole thing with a quote from the ever-delightful Book of Job:

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding." Job 38:4

That's it, God. You just tell 'em how puny and stupid they are. "Do you know everything, human? No? So shut up and stop asking so many awkward questions! Yes, I could use my little Bible to tell you about germs in the Bronze Ages already and save you a few thousand years of misery, but that would be making it too easy, now wouldn't it? And when you do discover this for yourselves, don't get all arrogant on me - I knew that stuff all along! All truth is mine, remember?"

Ah yes, the faith of Job. The guy who by all rights should have become an atheist but just wouldn't let go. The guy who could stand tall with the motto, "God gives and He takes away". Let's make a virtue of not understanding. Then terrorise all who dare to understand even a little. When all else fails, when all the evidence suggests that the Bible is a hopeless guide for truthful living, and that Christianity is a load of nonsense, just take the transcendental Magical Mystery Tour of "Gee, I don't understand why the world looks nothing like the Bible says it should, but God must know and I'm just too scared to see it any other way".

The 'lovely god' will do this thing to you if you don't believe in him !

Christianity = human stupidity

determining which is bullshit and which is truth

If you want to buy an Iphone online, and you comparing store by store.
Suddenly, you found out there is one store that selling it for half
the price comparing with others. You must know that there is something
wrong. It maybe a trap to cheat your money.

So, in our life, we must know the difference between bullshit and
truth. This skill can save our life.

Lets look at Christianity. The bible said that when Jesus was
crucified, there were 2 criminals next to him. One asked for
forgiveness and he go to heaven, another go to hell.

What kind of God will torture you forever and ever just because you
didn't praise him ? Only Hitler and Stalin did that.

Isn't it better we just do any evil thing we want to do. And at the
end of the day, just ask god for forgiveness and we all go to heaven ?

Do you smell bullshit ?

YES. Bible is bullshit.

If you are a millionaire and you are Christian. It is no used. It is
much more better for a person to be non Christian and poor. Because a
non Christian can love others just for who they are. And a non
Christian know what is right and wrong. He doesn't need to refer to a
fantasy novel written more then 2000 years ago that was full of
bullshit.

Terror of being a Christian

By Unknown Author

I am 23 and was raised in a Catholic family in a small farming
community in Australia. My family were never very strict catholics, we
went to mass almost once a week, said grace before meals etc. I never
really thought about hell, the way my mum spoke most people would go
to heaven anyway (she believes in a very loving God). My mum was
raised a Catholic and my dad was Anglican, but they both identify as
Catholics now. I have 2 sisters (one is very atheist and the other a
devout non-denominational Christian) and a brother who attends
Christian youth group but I'm not really sure what his exact beliefs
are. I am also in a relationship with a guy who identifies as very
strongly Atheist!
Up until about November last year I was basically Agnostic... I kinda
thought that the Christian belief system was silly, and I'd never
really read the Bible or paid attention in mass... I just went with my
family to keep my mum happy Posted Image
In November last year, I was being naughty on night duty again and was
reading ghost stories and the like to keep myself awake in the early
hours of the morning. I decided to read about the end of the world in
2012, so I googled it and came across a Christian website which was
basically refuting all the supposed theories of the apocalypse this
year (this sounds crazy i know...) then a popup came up: "Want to know
something more scary than the end of the world in 2012?" so of course,
I clicked the link, which took me to a page all about Hell, basically
telling me that I would be going to Hell...
Long story short... that website freaked me out so much that I became
obsessed with God, Hell and religion. I was TERRIFIED of going to
Hell, and was convinced that since i was sleeping with my boyfriend
and about to move in with him (which hasn't happened yet) I would be
going there. I basically went into a deep depression, spent two whole
weeks not doing much more than crying and panicking, stopped eating
(who wants to eat when you are convinced that when you die you will
suffer an eternity of immense pain), lost 5 kilograms (which is a lot
for someone who has always been told I am too skinny!), went for days
without getting a wink of sleep and completely withdrew from my
relationship. I read lots of Christian websites, and talked to
Christian friends. Only one of these told me I would be going to hell
unless I stopped what I was doing, another told me I should ask my
partner to wait for marriage (his answer was a big fat no!) but as
long as I asked for forgiveness I would be OK, another (who lives and
sleeps with her atheist boyfriend) told me that she feels guilty for
not waiting for marriage, but doesn't want to go backwards in her
relationship with her partner. she says that when she prays she knows
God forgives her. My best friend (who converted to Christianity when
she married a Christian) told me to just keep doing it and repent when
I get married! When I told my Mum what I was going through, at first
she thought it was about my partner, that he'd upset me and this was
just my way of reacting (mum has never liked my partner!). He was
actually VERY supportive, coming over to my house every night, cooking
me dinner, making me eat, listening to me, reassuring me and cuddling
me for hours on end Posted Image When mum finally realised that it
wasn't about him, she bacame more supportive, reassuring me that God
loved me and that there was "no way God would send such a beautiful
person to hell" (awww). She put up with my constant phone calls and
told me that all she really cared about was my happiness Posted Image
She also told me I should move in with my partner if that was what I
really wanted.
I also spoke to my little sister (the Christian one) ,she gave me a
Bible... which really wasn't the best thing for her to do! I spent
hours sitting on my lounge reading her Bible and crying about the
things I read. Every now and then I would find a nice, reassuring
verse, but that would only keep me happy for a little while before I
started focusing on the bad things I'd read again.
The Christian websites I read scared me too. I kept finding things
about Christian beliefs that I'd never even known... for example
Mortal sins in the Catholic church... I decided that since I'd had sex
outside of marriage, and since that was a Mortal (unforgiveable) sin,
there was no hope for me, I would be going to Hell regardless. Another
thing that scared me was that you could not get forgiven for
blasphemy... so I was definitely going to Hell Posted Image
I think the things that scared me the MOST though, were the prophesies
about the world ending (this was how I'd stumbled back into
Christianity in the first place, after all). When I was growing up, I
never even knew the Bible included these prophesies... I read into
them, read all the websites explaining how the end times are now
etc... and got even more scared! the bits that scared me most (and
still scare me a bit now) were the parts in Mark (I think, there's no
way I'm letting myself pick up a Bible to look up the reference...
I'll probably just find something else in there to scare myself with!)
about the signs of the end times- specifically people turning away
from their faith (from what I've seen this is happening quite a bit)
and earthquakes in various places- every time I see another earthquake
on the news I start to panic again.
Then... I found this site (http://new.exchristian.net) !! i read and
read, couldn't get enough of it! I felt so reassured- the logic on
here just makes sense to me Now I feel almost back to normal I still
feel scared from time to time... I think about what will happen if I'm
wrong, and wonder if Christianity is true, but mostly I'm back to my
happy self . my sex life (which pretty much became extinct!) is
starting to go back to normal (although I do still feel guilty from
time to time). Sorry if thats too much information haha! Anyway, I
just wanted to thank everyone who posts on this site, you have hepled
me come out of the darkest period of my life and I am very grateful
for that! I am still scared of going back to that dark period, but I'm
trying my hardest not to

trying to get 'saved'

By Matthew ~

When I was young I was very inquisitive. I gravitated towards music,
astronomy, and math. I always wanted to know how things worked, and I
would spend hours taking apart toy trains, playing with Legos, and
wondering how in the world a car worked. I wanted to be a mechanic or
an astronaut. The world was ablaze with beauty and structure and I had
to know how it all worked.

I was also enthralled with the idea of heaven. My first memories are
learning about Jesus coming back to take us back to heaven to live
with him forever. I was told I would be able to fly and play with wild
animals in heaven. Sometimes I would go outside and watch for Jesus,
trying to spot the cloud that was carrying him back to this earth to
save us.

As I grew up and began to "understand" the whole process of salvation,
I learned that one had to be saved in order to go to heaven. I realize
now that I approached salvation with the same curiosity I approached
astronomy and mechanics: I had to know how it all worked. I wanted to
know at what point I was saved or unsaved, how the holy spirit filled
me up, and how to avoid slipping into sin. Pretty deep stuff for a ten
year old, really. The whole fascination was about heaven. Heaven would
be a glorious place, and I was going to be there.

At some point I decided I needed to "know" that I was saved. I needed
a marker of sorts, a true/false test that I could point to in order to
know I was getting to heaven. It was my inquisitive side, I think,
that longed for evidence, just like a scientist. At this point it
became less about heaven, though, and started to be more about hell. I
could imagine hell just as vivid as I could imagine heaven, and it
wasn't pretty. I don't think I need to elaborate on how awful hell
could be. The worst part for me wasn't the flames, it was the idea
that I would be separated from my friends and family forever.

I wanted to know at what point I was saved or unsaved, how the holy
spirit filled me up, and how to avoid slipping into sin.I eventually
did come up with a test. With the help of a charismatic preacher, I
decided I could know I was saved if I was happy. Not just happy, but
joyful, ecstatic, peaceful, all the time. ALL THE TIME. And the more I
grew in Christ, the more happy I would be.

It didn't take long for me to sense some negative emotions. I decided
I must have gotten unsaved during the day. I would try to pray them
away at night, but the uncertainty would lead to angst, which would
lead to fear, and then I'd be unsaved again. It didn't take long for
me to spiral into a full panic attack. The first few times my mother
heard them and could re-assure me. After that I figured out how to
keep them quiet.

For two years, from ages 11 to 13 I suffered panic attacks at night
thinking that I wasn't saved. I would roll about, toss and turn, and
claw at my chest. At 13 I decided to stop trying and just be unsaved.
My high school years didn't have the panic attacks but I learned to be
very ashamed of who I was. I also knew that Jesus could return at any
moment and leave me to burn.

I tried to get saved in college. Sometimes I would devote an entire
weekend to getting saved, spending time in nature to finally figure it
out. The panic attacks continued. Eventually I did manage to convince
myself that I was saved. I used the same test as a child. I had to be
happy. But this time I focused less on being happy and more on
avoiding negative emotions, which I interpreted as Satan and demons.
By keeping out those bad feelings I was keeping out Satan. It was a
real psychological feat, but my twenties were characterized with
avoiding and repressing all negative emotions. Sometimes it took a lot
of work, like switching careers, moving back home, or avoiding all
risks. I moved across the US 3 times, gave up job opportunities and
careers, avoiding anything that might make me feel unsettled. And all
the while I thought God was leading me and that I was getting closer
to him.

Finally at age 28 I stopped believing in God. It was like a bomb went
off in my brain. Every repressed emotion came rushing in like a tidal
wave, and I didn't know how to take it. I've spent the last two years
even as an unbeliever trying to avoid those emotions as well. I just
keep trying to get saved. The panic attacks came back with a
vengeance. My first therapist suggested I find a church. My second
told me atheism was arrogant. I keep looking for mental health care
that is appropriate for what I now consider to be abuse, but am still
looking. I went for 17 years avoiding and repressing emotions.
Learning to live with them is not easy.

Imagine a child growing up without believing in heaven or hell?
Imagine not having make sure you're saved all the time? This is the
world I am trying to give my son. While I am not a perfect parent, I
am hoping to help my son experience the joy, peace, and yes, even the
pain and grief of this present world. I want him to have a fully human
experience. There is so much richness and beauty (and yes, danger) in
the world around us, we don't need to come up with a glorious or
tortuous afterlife to inspire or scare us. There's enough joy and pain
in this present world.

I guess in a weird way I finally feel like I am saved. Not from hell,
but from Christianity. And although I still suffer, and am still
struggling to interpret my emotions, I am growing as a human, learning
to experience the beauty of everything around me, and I no longer fear
a literal hell. If there is one thing I would tell a Christian it
would be this: There is no such thing as being "unsaved." You are full
and complete in your humanity. Learn from your mistakes and live for
today. This life is the best we've got, and you don't need the promise
of an afterlife to experience meaning or joy.

Crisis of faith

By Meranda ~ 

My story will sound very familiar I'm sure. I was raised by a single
mother with a mental illness, and raising children exasperated it, so
I was made a ward of the state at 12 and lived in 7 different foster
homes from the time I was 12 to 19. I only include that bit of my past
to set the table for my absolute desire for a Father, unconditional
love, purpose, someone who sticks closer than a brother, someone who
would never leave or forsake me, etc. I fell head over heels in love
with Jesus, and even now with all my skepticism I find myself hoping
that I could just stop thinking so damned much and fall back in love!
My 1st crises of faith so to speak was 3 years ago after the death of
my mother. The christian fundamental idea of hell was realized to me
in a way it never had before. Sending people to hell for ever and
ever, pain, torment...really. And isn't is so common for Christian
believers to say we deserve it? Really?! So to follow that logic, a
god who created us with a propensity to mess up, make mistakes, sin or
whatever you want to call it is going to sentence the majority of his
creation to everlasting torment...I came to realize how sadistic that
sounded. Last summer I was at a christian woman's bible retreat with
some very dear friends and I was sharing with them my dilemma about
god's character, and one girl asked me that if indeed hell is real,
and most are sent there could I worship him? My answer was "no way". I
am still so new to this way of thinking, and trying to sort out what I
believe and think, as opposed to a religious dogma that I have
ascribed to the past 17 years. My husband, myself, and my 4 children
still go to church every Sunday. I have a 14 year old that loves his
youth group. We just don't see that it is time to tell our children or
extended family all of our thoughts right now.
This is a very lonely time for us. A year ago, we were struggling with
hell and were reading books such as "The fir that Consumes" by Edward
Fudge which is basically supporting annihilation to now we are reading
books by Dan Barker who is a former preacher turned atheist! Lol Oh,
boy! We have a a few discussions with christian friends, and
unfortunately they are too afraid to talk about our questions...they
are worried they will be deceived by Satan if they entertain some of
the thoughts and questions we have...sound familiar? We have some
other more liberal christian friends who are involved in house
churches, but they too are just pissed at the institutional machine of
churches and want a more organic fellowship and not questioning his
existence, character, inerrancy and infallibility of the bible etc.

A poem for ex christian

They said you have sinned.
They said you are no good.
They said they have the solution.
They said the solution is GOD.
They said there is heaven and hell.
They said god knows everything.
They said god can do anything.

But God needs 10 percent of your income.
They have been following him for decades and they are still as evil as Satan.
They looks like people from hell.
They keep on telling you how evil other people are but they are the
most evil people.

There is no heaven or hell.
All you have is this life.
Heaven and hell is here.
Treat people like dirt and this world turn into hell.
Treat people with love and compassion and this world turn into heaven.

Live for today.

God - men invention

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~

Christians widely portray their god as an all-powerful, all-wise,
transcendent and perfect, spiritual being. I contend that modern
theologians have reconfigured god from the Bible authors' original
crude conceptions of god as a rather fallible, uber-human with
superpowers.

By "uber-human," I mean a being that is basically human in terms of
psychology and emotions, yet possessed of greater intelligence and
power. This is how modern humans have usually imagined comic book
superheroes. That is, they are generally built on a basic human
physical and psychological plan, but with accessory super powers, like
Superman and Spiderman.

Surely, the Bible authors thought god and man were very much alike, as
attested by Genesis 9:6, ". . . for in the image of God made he man."
For evidence I offer the inclusion of anger in the Biblical conception
of god, and the fact that Bible-god occasionally changes his mind
about things. Obviously, a "perfect" spirit being does not get angry,
nor does he change his mind (or whatever passes for "mind" in a
spirit).

Anger has been aptly described as a reaction to a perceived threat to
ourselves, our loved ones, our property, our self-image, or some part
of our identity. If a being is perfect and all-powerful, then how or
why would it feel threatened by anything? This only makes sense if
that being was somehow unsure of itself; that is, was less than
perfect.

Indeed, there are many Biblical passages which attest to this
unsureness, this anger. In Job 38, god upbraids Job for questioning
god's foul treatment of him. This harangue goes on for 71 verses about
what business has Job got judging god? He asks, was Job there when he
laid the foundations of the earth? "Hast thou entered into the springs
of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?" "Have the
gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of
the shadow of death?" God goes on like this for dozens of examples. I
mean, god is seriously pissed off and there is no mistaking it.

The scene with Job is not exceptional; the Bible is full of episodes
describing an angry god. In fact, one of the most frequently used
words in the Bible is "wrath," and it is almost always used in
connection with god. According to one online dictionary, wrath means,
"strong vengeful anger or indignation."

Anger is a very human emotion, and the Bible's primitive authors gave
their god a very full measure of it. Jesus was quite clear about how
we humans should respond to that angry god when he said, "fear him who
can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28)

But, Bible-god is not just human-like in his anger, he is also
human-like in his propensity to change his mind from time to time. Now
a perfect spirit being, it would seem, would get things right the
first time, and would not be changing its mind. But that would not be
an accurate description of Bible-god.

In Exodus 32, the Israelites create a golden calf and god gets angry:
". . . Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against
them, and that I may consume them . . ." But Moses pleads with god,
reminding him of his promises to the people, and warning him of how
the Egyptians will interpret his actions, and god relents – changes
his mind: "And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do
unto his people. " Isn't it apparent in this story that god was unsure
of himself; that Moses showed superior reason in convincing god what
he should do?

A similar story is found in Genesis 6: "And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it
repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the
creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I
have made them."

Here, god repents creating man and beast. According to the
Merriam-Webster online dictionary, "repent" in this context means:
(2a) to feel regret or contrition, or (2b) to change one's mind. So,
according to the Bible, god decides he made a mistake in creating
humans and changes his mind about keeping them around (except for Noah
and family).

Does this sound like a "perfect" being, an all-wise, creative spirit
entity? Or does it sound like an angry man with super powers? Does
this sound like an omniscient being who knows the future, as modern
theologians describe god?

I have searched several Christian apologetics sites to learn how
modern Christians explain how god can know the future, on the one
hand, yet change his mind, on the other. In researching this subject,
and thinking about it, it appears to me that the "explanations" all
fall into one of three broad types:

The naïve, or special-pleading explanation (God can do anything).
The Bible doesn't really mean what it says.
The Bible was just made up by many primitive authors and never
checked for consistency.

If we were to go with (1), we would be throwing out the rules of logic
which have led us out of the caves and into modern societies of
relative abundance. After all, god cannot construct a four-sided
triangle, nor can he simultaneously "be" and "not be."

"Explanation" (2) includes too many apologetic "escapes" to even
summarize here, but they generally involve disputes concerning
translation and convoluted pretzel-logic. For any of them to make
sense, we would have to redefine many of the common words we all have
been using all of our lives.

Which brings us to my own favorite, number (3). That the authors of
the Bible were superstitious primitives should really be beyond
dispute. These men included a whole host of imaginary characters in
their texts including witches, wizards, sorcerers, demons, ghosts,
giants, spirits, angels, dragons and unicorns. These were men who
believed disease was caused by demons (Matt. 8:14-16); men who didn't
know where the sun went at night.

And, clearly, the Bible was never checked for internal consistency.
When it comes to the "Good Book," as ye seek, so shall ye find is a
truism. It is not all that difficult to find a passage which defends
virtually any claim you wish to put forth. If you need a passage to
show that god is loving and compassionate, it's in the Bible. If you
want to show god is hateful and cold, that's in there, too. If you
need to show god is patient, it's there. If you want to show he is
quick to anger and punish, that's there, too. Isn't it interesting
that Bible-god is so much like us?

The Bible was written by dozens of different authors over hundreds of
years, so it's not surprising that their conceptions of god varied and
were sometimes even contradictory. When the Bible canon was
established by vote, long after the various texts were written, no one
bothered to ensure consistency among its parts, and this is how we can
be certain that no god oversaw its authorship. It was quite obviously
written by many independent and very imaginative men.

Now, modern theologians tell us that god is an extraordinarily
esoteric entity; perhaps, ". . . a symbol that points beyond itself to
an indescribable transcendence," (Karen Armstrong), or, not a being at
all, but the ground of all being (David Hart). But such explanations
are no more than wishful thinking; they do not correlate at all with
the descriptions of the Bible's authors. "Symbols" don't get angry or
change their minds, nor does "pure being." These apologists are
fighting a rear-guard action here; they know that the god described in
the Bible bears no resemblance to their descriptions, but they still
want to believe and have you believe.

Those primitive authors who wrote the Bible were quite transparent in
their depictions of god. Theirs was a crude god of very human
characteristics, like anger and indecision; an uber-human, a
primitive's conception of a comic book superhero. If you're looking
for a perfect, transcendent spirit, you won't find it in the Bible.
For that, you'll have to consult the modern apologists. And this tells
me that we shouldn't take the god of those ancients any more seriously
than we take Marvel Comics superheroes - and the same goes for the
gods of those more modern myth makers.

why bible is fake

By Peacefully Hiding ~

It's easy to be a brash teen and rebel against everything,
particularly deep abstract ideas, because as a teen we don't really
understand everything so well. Again, abstract ideas are an easy
target. Christianity is one of those ideas. It's easy to dismiss
because it's actually very complex. It's woven into so much of our
culture we often don't realize it. 3/4 time in music: a dedication to
the trinity. Derivations of Gothic architecture: derivations of
tributes, again, to the trinity. Many institutions and conventions are
modeled on what we've inherited. When you really look around you you
see God and Christianity is represented quite extensively, and this is
sensible as Christianity has been the dominant religion of Western
thought for hundreds of years. But to a teen Christianity is probably
no more than an edict by their parents: go to church, dress nice, keep
negative thoughts to yourself, CONTROL YOURSELF!

When we are teenagers trying to find ourselves it's easy to rebel
against these restrictions and believe we are what we say we are. But
then life has a way of turning the tables. Perhaps we get married and
our spouse believes differently. Perhaps we join a church and see it
really isn't full of nitpickers and blindly devoted followers. Perhaps
we see church members doing good things within their community.
Perhaps we see desperate people find help through the church they
otherwise couldn't. All these things have and continue to happen all
the time and are compelling reasons for a once rebellious teen to
shift his opinion of the church and bible. Really, how hard is it to
go along with a bunch of very nice people?

A better way to put it is a test of non-faith. If every religious
person did things you approved of, even thought were very good for
society, would you accept them and their religion? Would you adopt
their religion if there were no scandals, no bad history and easy to
accept? What if you were a guy and the only hot women were Christian?
Or a woman and all the respectable men in town were Christian? We are
human after all.

Such was my past and I imagine many adults have gone through the same
thing. But what pulled my mind away from 'the faith'? Simply, the
Bible.

My logic is thus. First it is the 'inspired' word of God. Inspired
meaning some men wrote it feeling 'inspired'. That's problem number
one. We see a very male perspective throughout the whole thing and,
more specifically, a male Jewish early history perspective. When I
read it I feel like I'm peeking into the wishes, dreams, hopes and
fears of one single, narrow mindset. A mindset that has since evolved,
as most modern Jewish men can't seriously believe every word to be
divine or even reasonable by any stretch.

The fact that women had no hand in its creation is part of this
problem. I'm a male and even I can recognize that this intentional
exclusion of female authorship is bound to give a skewed perspective
of anything, much less an 'inspired' perspective. The treatment of
women throughout the book is less than inspiring, even though the book
occasionally counter-balances this, it never gives them more than
second class treatment while blaming them for many social problems.

Biblical authorship, is the first aspect of Christianity that
distances me. The second is content. From the very beginning logic,
reason and truth are completely discarded. Let us accept that the
world was created in a day along with the idea that a day in God time
is simply different than human time. A disturbing thought, but a place
to start measuring how valuable the bible is. This God sets up a place
where his own creations are bound to fail and, if he knows all, then
he knows this. HE KNOWS HE'S GOING TO THROW HIS MOST BELOVED CREATIONS
OUT OF PARADISE AND INTO THE HARSH WILDERNESS!!!! And this is 'love'?

I'm not a Christian. I do actually believe there is a God but I just
don't think our bible or much of mankind's thoughts can adequately
describe or define what God might be.Think about it, let's imagine you
owned a dog food factory that placed all the dog food in your backyard
garden. Then let's say you got two dogs (male and female) and set them
in that garden, told them not to eat the dog food and left them on
their own for awhile. WHAT would you expect to happen? Would you be
surprised if they ate the dog food? Would you then grab them by the
collar and kick them out to the curb forever? Sound kind of harsh?

And this is the relationship between God and man throughout the book.
God knows his creation will not behave the way he wishes and goes so
far as to destroy it but never quite does.

And then you get absurd tales like Noah's Ark thrown in between for
good measure. Two animals of EVERY species? On one boat? No problems
with the animals eating one another, plenty of food for all, no
problem with natural ecosystems and... PLEASE!!!!

But say you skip the many illogical stories in the bible and take them
as fables, fair enough. Then you still have other edicts in the old
testament that are painfully absurd. No getting anywhere near a woman
having her period and no eating pork. Complete prehistory mindset that
just gets overlooked, which is to say modern priests and preachers can
admit that these pieces of the bible have no basis for support in
modern healthcare but can't admit that perhaps other parts of the
bible are equally inapplicable. THAT pushes me away.

Eventually, the idea of 'God' having a relationship with man is set
aside and the old Testament ends. We never see him talking to people
or performing odd changes in physics the way he does in the Old
Testament again. And I wonder, is that because people have the tools
to actually record such wonders and investigate their truthfulness?

But we move to the new Testament. A Savior is born. And perhaps this
man, Jesus, really was. But was he all that the bible says he was?

My problem with the idea of a biblical Jesus is his followers.
According to the bible they see him perform miracle after miracle.
He's turning water to wine, feeding hoards with a single loaf of
bread, walking on water, bringing life to the dead, yet they
CONTINUALLY doubt the man. THAT IS COMPLETELY ILLOGICAL. If I saw a
guy literally walk on water I would probably think he could do all
kinds of other things and I sure as heck wouldn't have any questions
about whatever he was saying. SERIOUSLY! Think about it. We're modern
people, we've seen a lot of seemingly magical things. Planes fly, flat
panels speak and sing. These people had only known farming and Roman
ideas at best. They see a guy walk on water and then they're like, 'do
you REALLY think you can bring this guy back to life?' Heck, even the
locals saw many of his 'miracles' and they give in to Roman authority.
How can this be? Is it perhaps the 'miracles' were made up after a
figure died?

And what about Jesus being resurrected and meeting back up with the
disciples. They've spent the last few years of their lives with this
guy, gave up everything to follow him, watched him tried and put to
death but seeing him up close, they just have no idea WHO he is.
Really? Seriously?

OK, OK. Let's say we accept all of that. Let's just say we accept that
Jesus was really the Son of God. Though I don't see why we need a son,
holy ghost and god that all fill the same function, how one can kill
oneself and still be god, etc. but that's just more mind bending stuff
you have to do if you try to fit it all together. But let's say you
ignore quite a bit of the bible and accept Jesus at his word. You
accept him into your heart and you're saved from a firey hell his
father made for you. Again, we go back to the idea that God's creation
doesn't behave the way he wanted (even though he was responsible for
creating it) and so he must punish it in a painful burning hell
forever because of this. But proclaiming a faith in Jesus and being
baptized should get you out of that pickle. Well, depends on who you
ask. Baptists say, 'yes', Catholics say 'yes, if you admit your sins
to another guy who REALLY believes this stuff', Amish say, 'nope, you
have to earn it every day' Does ANYONE know the truth? It doesn't seem
so. Seems like a bunch of 'interpretation' of an 'inspired' word.
Whose interpretation is correct? What about Jesus' words. Seems you
can take them at face value, right?

Well, so it would seem until we get to 'Revelations'. In that one
there's going to be a judgement and a lot of people are going to hell.
Doesn't matter if they were raised as Buddhists (like most of the
world actually is), they're going straight to the fiery pit with
Hitler. That is, unless Hitler happened to pronounce his faith in
Jesus before he committed suicide, then Hitler will be waving happily
and comfortably above from heaven while others burn painfully forever.

And as if that isn't bad enough what else can anyone say about
Revelations with a straight face? The absurd imagery, the bizarre
numerology, the insanity, all of it is a big, unnecessary show of
force and mindlessness. Why would God need to put on such a show? Who
is it for? The condemned? Isn't going to a painful hell enough? And if
it really is such a grotesque ending to life as we know it wouldn't it
be better to keep it a surprise rather than tell mankind from the get
go? Revelations is enough to send me away from the concept of
Christianity.

But then there are other issues. Let's take Heaven for instance. The
descriptions of it, again, point to prehistoric Jewish male minds.
Streets of gold: Why? Maybe I prefer brick. Maybe seeing tacky gold
streets are hell to me. Why streets at all? Maybe I like grassy
fields. And what about my body. Do I get the one I had when I died,
when I was young, or the one I always wanted? And what about the
singing praises. I really don't like to sing all the time. It hurts my
voice. Maybe I want to do other things, like jet ski. Can I jet ski
while everyone sings? Will time be divided up so I can rotate the
schedule? Can't I just do that here on Earth? And what about those
serial killers that 'repented'. I don't want to be anywhere near them
when I get to heaven. Seriously, God may have forgiven them but that
doesn't mean I have. They hurt so many people in such terrible ways.
Must I be forced to see them? I never want to. If I ever wanted there
to be a hell that's what I'd want it for but even that just doesn't
make me feel good. Can't they just be erased from all existence? And
can someone who doesn't believe in the big show but asks for that
forgiveness ever really fit in heaven?

No one really knows because there's nothing to know. Heaven is all in our heads.

Once you can honestly accept the bible is a well-intended but poorly
constructed concept of morals you may leave it, as I did, but there's
one thought that you have to get over otherwise you're doomed. I think
this is what really scares people the most. That thought is, 'what
happens if I ditch the bible? Will I be a morally responsible person?'

In fact, I sometimes think some people think that any denial of the
bible's authority is a license to misbehave. 'If the bible is bunk I
can do what I want!' And this scares them. It should, as we are all
capable of terrible things. All of us. We may not act on them, ever,
but they are there. The bible may define this as 'original sin', I
believe it is simply our biological origins set against our
environments. If we're in an environment where all our needs are
satisfied then it's easy to be morally 'well-behaved'. When our needs
are not met we may disregard our moral 'compass' to meet them. Perhaps
in the future we will recognize that morals are a human idea that are
a bit removed from natural reality for biological organisms. But can
we be 'good' without the bible?

Absolutely. It is a choice. It does require a responsible attitude and
awareness of our choices. Perhaps we who live without the bible's
guidance feel even more responsible for our actions because we have no
one to blame when we know our choices before us. We can't pin our
mistakes on Jesus or God. And maybe, if there is a real God, that was
the whole point of Genesis. That we find our way in this harsh world
and take responsibility for ourselves. Maybe we have a greater
responsibility to behave than just because 'God said so!'

And I extend this to our treatment of Christians, Jews, Muslims and
the rest of humanity. I believe most people WANT to do good things.
I've seen evidence of it at many churches I've visited and been a part
of. Also, I've found that many at church are just as confused as a
normal person might expect and don't fully buy into everything
espoused by the pastor. Would we honestly expect everyone to agree
completely on one thing ever? And when they do they may even define
certain aspects of their faith differently than one another so that
one person's 'repent' means something very different than the next.
Which is to say, I don't push my beliefs on anyone and if anyone wants
to push theirs on me I simply listen with respect. Respect is what
civilized people SHOULD offer one another.

And so, I'm not a Christian. I do actually believe there is a God but
I just don't think our bible or much of mankind's thoughts can
adequately describe or define what God might be. I have done good and
bad but I always try to do my best. I hope that anyone who makes the
steps I have find comfort in taking responsibility for their own moral
behavior and find all the pleasure of heaven around them.