March 16, 2009, 10:47 am by dc-agape.

Image by KLuwak via Flickr

Since this is my spring break, and even though grad students don’t get a holiday, I thought I could spend a little time answering a request for my personal beliefs.  I also have extra time this week because my research is automated and I will not have to go check on it till this afternoon.

One of the biggest misconceptions about Atheism is whether any ethics are involved.  Many people claim that Atheist have no morals.  Many other people claim that morals only come from a supernatural being.  Both of these misconceptions are totally false! 

Morals do not come from a supernatural being.  How do I know this?  I know this because human society would fall apart without most of us living by some moral standard.  A society that allowed theft, jealousy, murder, lying, and all the other “sins” would degrade into anarchy.  A different country, or city, or another human society would come in and destroy that “sinful” society simply because there was no organization (in the “sinful” society) to defend against the attack.  The only society with such “sin” would have to be a tyranny and as soon as the tyrant died (or shortly after) that society would fall to pieces.  Examples of that are the Roman empire (even after Christianization), the USSR, and the Khan dynasties.  Even the Southern Confederate States of America (CSA) were doomed to failure.  Slavery, which is not a sin in Christianity, was the downfall of the CSA – with or without the Civil War.  The Code of Hammurabi (Washington State University) is an excellent example of a society making rules to ensure peace and organization to the Babylonians in 1760 BCE (Wikipedia).  In fact, if you take the Creationist Young Earth hypothesis, that the earth was created on Oct 23, 4004 BCE (Christian History Timeline)…the Code of Hammurabi was written 10 years before Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, died (you have to do some math).  In other word, while YHWH was fiddling around with the patriarchs of Judaism, Hammurabi was setting up rules that his people should follow.  Yet Young Earth Creationist believed that man was so sinful that YHWH had deserted them.  So this “Spark of the Devine” required to have morals would not have been available to Hammurabi.  The Shang Dynasty of China started in about 1766 BCE (Washington State University) at the same time as the Babylonian Empire!  The Greek empire began its Mycenaean Civilization around 1600 BCE.  Looking at these dates, a gay Atheist can only come to one conclusion.  Humans began to recognize the need to have laws and organization to live in a “civilized” manner.  No supernatural being or “spark” was required.  As populations grew, law and order was provided so that the civilization could prosper.

Now where do Atheist morals come from?  The Ethical Society of Philadelphia has a wonder response to that.  One of the founding principles of Humanist Atheism (of which I hold as part of my life philosophy) is that the respect for the individual is undeniable.  Very much like the US’s founding principle of the Declaration of Independence without the supernatural “Nature’s God” and “their Creator” woo.  With this in mind: murder, theft, bearing false witness, cheating (sexually or financially), etc are all detrimental to the existence of human society.  But this, also, includes things that the Holy Bible, the Holy Qur’an, and the other Holy Texts of many religions do not uphold or teach.  Such examples as Women’s Rights and Equality, Minority Equality, Same-sex Marriage, a Ban on Slavery, and Intellectual Freedom are all covered by this same founding principle: the respect for the individual is undeniable.

What does this lead to?  It leads to a perfect example of our human purpose.  That purpose is to create a more humane environment on this small little rock that orbits a single star out of the 10²¹ stars in the universe.  The world/universe is a harsh place which is not designed with humankind in mind; it is our responsibility to make it as humane as each of us is capable.  By humane I mean exactly what Dictionary.com uses as a definition:Humane: characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, esp. for the suffering or distressed

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March 16, 2009, 9:12 am by dc-agape.

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Codex 1, Tractate 2, 2:23 – 6:20

This section of the Apocryphon of James begins with Jesus telling the twelve apostles that he is about to leave.  A conversation about how to enter heaven ensues. During this brief dialog Jesus tells them that he cannot command anyone to enter heaven.  But he tells them that they must be full.  At this point we don’t get a sense of what they must be full of…. But Jesus requests both James and Peter to follow him to a different location.  They leave the other to continue the recording of their experiences during Jesus’ ministry.  The way it is written it does seem that the author was the apostle James and not the brother James.  But historians claim that it could not have been the apostle James because he died in Acts 12:3.  But if that was 42CE (Episcopal Church Lectionary), I don’t see how James the brother of Jesus was any more likely, he was killed in 62CE (Wikipedia).

I just came across a reference that explains that James the brother of Jesus was actually an apostle (Gal 1:18-19).  So there were more than twelve apostles.   Yet the author of this Holy Christian Document refers to himself as one of the twelve apostles.  So my comments about the turmoil in the 1^st century may have begun immediately after the death of Jesus. 

This is where the “secret” message that Jesus had for James and Peter begins.  Jesus starts off telling them that they have received mercy, should they not “desire” to be filled.  He also describes their situation as being drunk, where they should “desire” to be sober.  The narrative is quite broken, not due to damage to the Codex but just the way the topics are covered.  It is quite obvious that this was handed down verbally for some time before being recorded, or that many copy errors occurred before being set in the Nag Hammadi Codex.

The next topic covered by Jesus is how these men needed to remember that they have seen, spoken to, and listened to the Son of Man.  An aside, Jesus only spoke of himself as the Son of Man; other people called him the Christ, Son of God, and the Messiah.  Jesus then goes on to tell them that it is wretched to have seen Jesus.  Those who have not seen Jesus are blessed and have life compared to those who lived with Jesus!  At the end of this mishmash, Jesus again tells them to be full.  But he gives them a reason, he warns about a person who is coming who will mock them.

Peter then asks the big question…how can we be more full than we already are?  Jesus’ answer is worse than the most esoteric woo you can imagine.  He babbles about being full is good and being in want as bad, then switches the two around.  One point that does make sense in this woo is the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus jumps to the next topic: suffering.  Jesus then warns them to stop loving the flesh.  He goes on to tell them that they will suffer the same things that he did.  He ends this with a powerful statement that all Christians should remember:

5:31-35 Scorn death, therefore, and take thought for life!  Remember my cross and death, and you will live!

He basically is warning them to remember his life and death and stop being afraid of death.  He goes on to tell them to “be seekers of death”!  This next passage must be repeated:

6:14-18 Verily I say unto you , none who fear death will be saved; for the kingdom of God belongs to those who put themselves to death.

Yet today, almost all “Christian” I know fear death!  They force people to stay on life support (Terry Schiavo) and themselves mourn when a loved one dies and goes to heaven. BTW, this is not the only source of material that warns Christians to seek death (death of sin or death of body).  Jesus finishes this section with this comment:

6:19-20 Become better than I; make yourselves the son of the Holy Spirit!

Here Jesus is not telling his disciples to imitate him.  He is telling them to be better than him!  But it returns to the Holy Spirit, Christians you must be filled with the Holy Spirit.  You can’t live by your bodily needs and wants. 

Gal 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

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