April 4, 2009, 9:36 am by dc-agape.

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Surah 100: Al-‘Ādiyāt: The Assaulters

By those running and uttering cries!

And those producing fire, striking!

And those suddenly attacking at morn!

Then thereby they raise gathering –

Surely man is ungrateful to his Lord.

And surely he is a witness of that.

And truly on account of the love of wealth he is niggardly.

Knows he not when that which is in the graves is raised,

And that which is in the breasts is made manifest?

Surely their Lord this day is Aware of them. 

This surāh is interesting in the fact that this is the first one that the each of the interpretations (5 total) seem to vary greatly.  The meaning is still there, but the way it is said in a great variety of ways.   The first five verses describe warfare.  The interpretation vary on whether this is physical, spiritual, or both.  In any event, this is warfare against the “Truth”.  And it is where the name of the surāh comes from – the assaulters. 

The next three verse warn about the nature of humankind.  The ungrateful and the greedy are described.  Since this is a spiritual guide the Prophet points to how humans are ungrateful to a supernatural being that is assumed to have created everything including humankind.  He continues by warning about the love of material things (wealth in particular).  From my post on the last surāh I would assume that this is not just wealth as in money but any accumulation of material goods that could distract from doing good in this life.

The last three verse warn about the Day of Judgment.  How humankind should keep in mind that everyone will raise from the grave.  Followed by the recognition of each person’s deeds. This surāh ends with reminding the reader that it is Allah that knows each person’s attitude and action.

Bringing up the “woo” of what happens after death always makes people fall into line.  Since we have no proof of what occurs at death, people will do just about anything to avoid the possible negative ramifications of this life.  Many people need this “fear” of being judged to act in a civilized manner.  Many more people need this “life after death” concept to assuage the fear of death itself.  Unfortunately, many other people use these two needs of humankind to control the “masses”.  The Southern Baptist, here in the US, teach a form of “fire and brimstone” that not only controls the masses “to do good” but has seeped into our political system.  This physical control of the masses has lead to atrocities such as the response to Hurricane Katrina and to the war in Iraq.  This control mechanism is not just in the Southern Baptist, we can see it in the Catholic sexual abuse cases, with the mass murder in the Peoples Temple (Religious Tolerance), and the “lost boys (childbrides.org)” of some Mormon sects.  This mass population control mechanism that evil people use is religion.  That is why Atheist and Ethical Humanist fight so hard against religion.  Organized religion can be used for good, but so often it is used by the power-hunger to control humanity with horrific results.

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April 4, 2009, 8:19 am by dc-agape.

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In the process of performing this experiment I have come across an interesting hypothesis.  What if Saul (the Apostle Paul) succeeded in destroying the disciples of Jesus?  The result would be a fake religion with no “Power”.  We know that Saul hated the disciples, what if he changed his purpose from killing the individual to destroying the “Gnosis” that Jesus taught. 

During the process of carrying out experiments the original question leads to many more questions.  The answers to some of these questions are answered during the research others lead to new fields of experiments.  The hypothesis that Saul was determined to stop the teachings of Jesus is well known:

Acts 8:3 But Saul began to destroy the church.  Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.

At some point he must have realized that one man persecuting individuals was futile.  Could he have chosen to “be saved”, could he not have known where Ananias lived in Damascus?  Once he gained Ananias’ trust everything else would be a cake walk until he was ready to die.  Could his thorn in his side:

2^nd Cor 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

Actually be knowledge of the “Truth”. 

The first thing that must be known about the other Gospel writers of the 1^st Century CE was that they were Gnostic Christians.  The Gnostics believed that the roles between YHWH and Satan were reversed.  YHWH was an abomination created out of ignorance by a higher power.  The snake in the garden was actually the first attempt by Jesus to bring knowledge to humans.  He was sent by his father a second time, but his father was not YHWH.  No his father was something (yes, neither male nor female) the Gnostic Christians called the Father of Light.  They believe that YHWH’s purpose has always been to keep humans from understanding that he is not the most powerful supernatural being to exist.

I want to show how this hypothesis might be true.  First, where are the writings of the actually Apostles?  They are collected in the Nag Hammadi Library a Gnostic Christian codex.  Second, why has the Rock that Jesus built his church on been superseded Paul’s teachings? 

Matt 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Paul wrote two-thirds (Answers.com) of the New Testament.  Should it not have been Peter that wrote more of the NT?  Third, Paul gives no good excuse for why the First Church at the time of the Pentecost does not continue to happen.  Should not the power of the 1^st century CE church still be visible today?  Third, Barnabas was passed over for becoming an Apostle by Matthias (All Saints Episcopal Church).  Why?  And why is Barnabas the companion of “Paul”?  The writings of Matthias were destroyed with the other Gnostic Christians teachings.  All the writings of the Apostles were destroyed, yet have been found in the collection of Gnostic Christian teachings!  Most of which were recorded in the 1^st century CE.

A hypothesis is not just to ask questions that seem to contradict/fit what is observed.  The hypothesis is also supposed to fit the facts.  I did that twice while asking questions in the last paragraph.  That was about the Apostle’s teachings being Gnostic.  Also, how Barnabas and Paul became the major writers of the NT.  But what about the Gnostic teaching that the roles are reversed between Satan and YHWH?  Does this not explain suffering in the world?  If the “Lord of Lies” is YHWH then does it not fit that suffering is allowed because YHWH is not “Love”?  Then this verse:

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

Now, with this hypothesis, that verse makes complete senses.  All the contradictions in the Bible are also explained.  A “god of confusion - Satan” would purposely place them there to keep the knowledge away from humankind.  The multiple religions and even the multiple denominations within “Christianity” would make sense. 

Oh it’s true that 99% of what “Paul” taught was Christian, but by leaving out the one kernel of truth – that Jesus was not the son of YHWH – changes everything.  By that one act of omission Saul was able to pervert Jesus’ teaching and succeed at eliminating what he despised.  Reread Acts 9:1, would not that type of hatred carry someone to their death?  Would not that explain Saul’s “thorn” a messenger from Satan?

As a gay Atheist, I must admit that for a religion this one seems the closest to actually understanding the world we live in!  It still has a lot of “woo” in it, Gnostic Christianity is nearly as bad as Alchemy.  What if Paul never really converted to Christianity?  Where would it leave mainstream Christianity today?

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April 4, 2009, 6:58 am by dc-agape.

     We have reached the part of Genesis where YHWH destroys both the city of Sodom and also Gomorrah.  But before he does this he informs Abraham of his plan.  YHWH reasoning is that YHWH chose Abraham.  YHWH knows that Abraham will become a great nation, that he will bless all nations.  This will happen because Abraham will direct his children in the ways of YHWH, and only then will YHWH give Abraham the promise.  Read this verse again:

^{Gen 18:19} For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Here we see YHWH can make promises to his chosen people, but unless we obey him YHWH will break his promise!  Basically, this tells me that YHWH can break his promise whenever, for whatever reason he likes.  If we misinterpret his desires, he can break his promises.  If we slip just once, he can break his promises.  Since we are created with sin and are imperfect, that has got to be the biggest loophole I have ever seen!  We are bound to fail, and as a result YHWH will break any promise he has made to us!

     YHWH then tells Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah have sinned so grievously that YHWH must see it for himself.  Here he is about to act as JUDGE against his own creation.  Here again is that humongous loophole.  The imperfect creation has sinned against him, so YHWH gets to judge it and destroy it.  Sodom is also bound to fail reaching YHWH demands, because as of yet the definition of keeping YHWH’s ways has not been recorded.  YHWH has invisible boundaries that no one knows but him, yet it is Sodom’s fault for breaking them.  Does this remind you of your last boss?

     Abraham intercedes for Sodom.  He begins with asking if YHWH will destroy Sodom if even 50 righteous people live there.  He becomes more bold and asks what about 45, then 40, 30, 20, and finally 10 righteous people.  Odd how the imperfect creation (Abraham) is more compassionate than the all-loving creator!  But YHWH will not destroy Sodom if even 10 righteous people are living in the city.  Loophole!  Only YHWH knows what is righteous in his eyes, these people of Sodom are goners; they don’t even have a chance.

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