February 28, 2009, 10:20 am by dc-agape.

It has been brought to my attention by a Muslim that my website title requires adjustments.  I am not just directing my observations to Christians.  I am using mostly Christian texts which are the major theme.  But I am referencing the Jewish (Old Testament and Dead Sea Scrolls) and the Islamic religions as well (the Holy Qur’an).

The experiment is growing.  And the title of the experiment should reflect this.  I would like to stay with the dc-agape theme so that minimizes my choices.  The best choice seems to be replacing the word Christian with canonist (freedicionary.com).  Canonist is not perfect since there are a number of problems with it.  First, it is an archaic term that most people will not suspect is directed at them.  Second, it does not directly refer to religious cannon.  So maybe that is a good thing.  Even though Atheist does not have a cannon law, many of us Atheist are specialist in Atheistic concepts.  Third, it still has a Christian connotation.  But in general it is more general and possibly not as off putting as “Dear Christian”. 

So at the moment the website will change title to:

Dear Canonist: A gay Atheist Personal Experiment (dc-agape)

h/t to a Muslim that used the name kay who posted on my post Introduction: Holy Qur’an for pointing this out.

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February 28, 2009, 9:12 am by dc-agape.

I would be amiss if I did not start the Qur’an with the al-Fātihah.  This is the most important seven verse in the Qur’an.  It is also the seven verses that are repeated at each prayer during the day.  I wonder if this is helpful or harmful for the adherents to the faith.  Personally, the more times I repeat something to myself, such as the Lord’s Prayer (when I was a christian); many times it was just rote repetition.  I lost the meaning of what I was saying because I had repeated too many times. 

Like the Lord’s Prayer, the al-Fātihah has a very similar format, both seem to be about the same length and cover the same things.  You can read the al-Fātihah here (chapter 1: The Opening).  You can read the Lord’s Prayer here.

Looking at the two side by side, there really is no difference.  The al-Fātihah praises Allāh more than the Lord’s Prayer praises YHWH.  But then the Christians beseech YHWH to help them serve his will more than the Islamic faith.  Both ask for help being righteous.  The Christians actually ask for forgiveness and the power to forgive.  There is no direct relationship in the al-Fātihah.  And both end with begging the all-powerful to keep the individual from straying down the path of evil.

To an gay Atheist there are only subtle difference.  Which if you have the “god bias” you would say that that is normal and to be expected.  On the other hand, Christianity was not unheard of in the Prophets time…plagiarism is not out of the question.  Or at least this was taking what the Prophet like from the other religion.

This post is short and sweet.  Since it comprises the entire 1^st chapter of the Holy Qur’an, I see no reason to delve into the second chapter quite yet.  I can almost be certain that I will be comparing what is written in the Qur’an and what the christians and Jewish texts have to say.  It will get complex and probably ugly.  But this was a good start.

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February 28, 2009, 8:39 am by dc-agape.

I am going to tackle the biggest reason for why I became an Atheist.  This might come across as being a YHWH hater, but if that crosses you’re mind you are using the “god bias”.  In no way are the verses I am about to us taken out of context, they are direct quotes from YHWH about himself.  And they are a preponderance of hypocrisy.  These verses show us exactly how not to be, just like when you parents told you “do as I say, not as I do”.  Well this is YHWH.  And in doing so YHWH is the world’s worst role model.

Everyone should have heard most of these: YHWH is an angry god, YHWH is a jealous god, he is a vengeful god, he murders people, and he punishes innocents (I’ll explain that one if it’s not clear).  Since he is an unchanging being how can he be a role model for us?  Especially when he gives us commandments that contradict what he himself is?  We have given YHWH human attributes, that in the end leaves us with “well God just does that”, “how can you question God?”, and “God created you he can do whatever he pleases”.  To a gay Atheist none of these cop-outs help. 

YHWH is an angry god.  We know this because it is repeated time and time again in the Word of God.  Moses has this to say about YHWH:

Deut 9:19 I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.  But again the Lord listened to me.

Here is what David (YHWH’s favorite) had to say:

2^nd Samuel 22:8-9 The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry.  Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

Yet we are not allowed to be angry worse we are commanded to love (the exact opposite of anger):

Mark 12:31 The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.  There are no commandments greater than these.”

Luke 6:29 If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other one also.  If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.

These second two verses are the exact opposite of what YHWH is.  If we are the imperfect one’s what does that make YHWH? He is commanding us to be better than him!

YHWH is also a jealous god.  One of my favorite verses makes this clear:

Exodus 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

As the old one liner goes, “My middle name is….” well YHWH middle name is Jealous.  Notice the capitalized word.  Yet we are told in the ten commandments:

Deut 5:21 You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.  You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

How is that for a double standard?  “I am jealous”, but you can’t even want someone else’s property.   YHWH wants your undivided attention (he will not share), yet we are not allowed to even have a simple desire for better things.  You just have got to love the role model here.

What about YHWH’s vengeance?  It’s legendary, right?

Numbers 31:3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the Lord’s vengeance on them.

This is actually a double whammy on YHWH.  First, he has humans take out his vengeance on innocent nations.  The Midianites were innocent because YHWH chose Israel; the Midianites would of course not follow YHWH.  YHWH rejected them.  Second, it is an example of YHWH breaking a promise.   You see the Midianites were Ishmaelites and YHWH promised to Abraham that:

Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers.  He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

While I’m on the subject of YHWH breaking promises:

Gen 14:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.

Those four generations turn out to be 480 years (dabar.org), 430 years from Exodus 12:41.  Whatever happened to the 120 year life span (Gen 6:3)?  So basically, YHWH got a little confused…life times, generations…ah it’s all the same to him.  So here YHWH is a vengeful liar.  Now doesn’t that make for a great role model of perfection?

I should warn you now, I still have two more.  YHWH is also a murder, he claims that they deserve it…but that still makes him a murderer.  In the famous act of wrath where YHWH destroys Sodom he also destroys Gomorrah.  The odd thing about this is that the sins of Gomorrah are not listed, in fact YHWH checks out Sodom personally but we have no record of him going to Gomorrah.  Abraham only asks to save Sodom, so the whole topic of an entire city being destroyed is questionable.  What did they do that was so grievous?  Can there truly be a city so sinful, when YHWH has not set down his commandments yet?  Remember he does not start making demands until after the Israelites leave Egypt.

But there is another story about YHWH killing for minor infractions.  In the Book of Acts (Acts 5:1-11) Ananias and Sapphira hold some of their money back from the apostles.  In the process they lie.  YHWH kills them instantly.  For a lie, after baptism in Jesus’ name, YHWH still struck these two down.  So without a doubt YHWH is a murder, yet we are commanded in:

Deut 5:17 You shall not murder.

Here again is the “do as I say, not as I do” attitude.  How can anyone follow such a perverse system of logic?  The perfect being that is far from perfect requiring his flawed creation to be perfect or die.  It makes no sense to the unbelieving Atheist.

Let me finish with justice.  From the following verse it is quite clear that YHWH is not just:

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

How is this just?  Punishing the great-grandchildren for something that their parents did?  The fourth generation barely knew who that sinful generation was!  But there is more in that verse, another example of YHWH lying.  There is no rebellion that YHWH will not forgive and is not abounding in love:

Matt 12:31 And I tell you, every sin will and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

So here we have an unjust YHWH that has limits to his “love and forgiveness”.  For a perfect being he is a piece of trash.  This has got to be the worst example of a loving, forgiving, just, and truthful perfect being that man has ever made up.  Even the Greek and Roman Gods were at least personification of humanity….people expected them to be capricious and arbitrary.  YHWH is the exact same, but we don’t have the option of worshipping a different deity that is more in-line with our personal needs.

Posted in Inerrancy - My Ass, Becoming an atheist | Print | 11 Comments »

February 28, 2009, 7:37 am by dc-agape.

     In Genesis chapter 14 we read about the powerful king of Elam, Kedorlaomer.  This king has subjugated the people and Kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Bela, Amraphel, Ellasar, Goiim, the Raphaites, the Zuzites, the Emites, the Hirites, the Amalekites, and the Amorites.  To say the least this King Kedorlaomer is a very powerful man.  As history as told us very well, any conqueror has trouble keeping this many subjugated people under control.  The Kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela decide to fight back and win their freedom.  Unfortunately they lose the battle and many of their men are killed in the tar pits of the area. 

     The tar pits of the Dead Sea is the second “oh, oh, the Word must be true because those put blank here exist” argument.  The first account of this type of argument is the story of the Flood.  So at least we know that the Word is historically correct.  Well, Duh.  It was written by men who lived in the area and the time!  That does not mean that everything in the Word is true, it just means that we should be able to find some historical evidence that collaborates with the Word.

     It would seem that Lot was part of the loot that Kedorlaomer takes from Bera of Sodom.  318 men under Abram were able to subdue all of Kedorlaomer’s men.  Either the battle was bloody or the 4 kingdoms under Kedorlaomer were tiny.  But then how could a tiny army subdue 14 nations.  So basically, Abram attacks a weakened army at night and is victorious.  He loots the weakened army and recovers Lot and takes all the women that were stolen from Sodom.  Well, of course, the King of Sodom is overjoyed that Abram was able to recover the people and properties of Sodom.  The King Bera of Sodom offers Abram all the goods taken from Kedorlaomer but requests that the people of Sodom be returned.  In other words, the King is begging Abram not to keep the people of Sodom as slaves.  Sounds like a damn good leader to me, how about you?  Let’s recap, King Bera of Sodom attempts to free his people of an overlord (but loses) and then offers all his possessions to Abram as payment for returning the people of Sodom.  Abram is a better person, he gives all the property of Sodom and all the people of Sodom back to King Bera.  Abram reasoning is that he does not want to be seen as being made rich from King Bera.  Odd, didn’t Abram enjoy the fruits of taking ill gotten goods from the Pharaoh in chapter 12:14-20? 

     Melchizedek, a high priest, also comes to the meeting of King Bera and Abram.  Abram and Melchizedek worship the same YHWH as far as the study notes are concerned.  The logic behind this assumption is that Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything he got from his victory over Kedorlaomer.  He gives the rest of the loot to his men (Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre) and to King Bera of Sodom.  At this point we must assume that Lot went back to his home near/in Sodom.

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