August 29, 2009, 4:28 pm by dc-agape.

In this post on why I became an Atheist I want to focus on “Lukewarm” Christians.  In a sense this can be considered all moderate Christians, you know the ones that go to church every once in a while, say “God bless you”, and in general claim to be “Christian”.  This includes most Protestants and Catholics, and a good dose of “Fundamentalist” and “Charismatic” Christians.  But there is a second group of “Lukewarm” Christians that I actually want to address.  This is the group that allows the little things in life to come before their responsibilities to following Jesus.

I want to start with this passage from Paul (1^st Cor 7:28-40).  Paul clearly states that marriage divides the attention of Christians between pleasing YHWH and worry about earthy issues.  He, of course, does not promote celibacy (as Catholics would like to claim), but he does have this to say:

1^st Cor 7:28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries she has not sinned.  But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

But this teaching of Paul’s is in direct contradiction to Jesus’ about two masters:

Matt 6:24 “No one can have two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Being concerned about this life, satisfying your partner (not just sexually) is exactly the same thing as Jesus’ choice between YHWH and Money!  One cannot serve their family and serve YHWH at the same time.  In fact Jesus has two saying that directly relate to this:

Matt 6:31-34 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Yet as of today, I have not met a single “Christian” who follows this advice.  No, instead, what I have seen is the rationalization that those who seek the kingdom will make lots of money (for cloths) and have plenty of food and water.  But this is not Jesus’ point!  To attempt to make this clear look at these passages:

Matt 19:21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

Matt 8:20-22 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head”.  Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

It is perfectly clear that Jesus expects his followers to trust that YHWH will provide all their necessities.  This is not just during Jesus’ lifetime.  The first church also did not worry about money, food, or clothes (Acts 2:42-47).  But today’s Christian is so caught up in the “rat race” that the Socialism that Jesus espouses is considered to be un-American!  Yet it is perfectly clear that Jesus’ teachings are not just a form of socialism they are the purist Socialism possible (and not Marxist Socialism!).  Unfortunately, modern Christians believe that Capitalism is acceptable!  But Capitalism is the antithesis of Socialism. 

Another difference between Jesus (and his disciples) and modern Christianity is this verse:

Matt 5:38-42 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

In direct opposition to this passage the US military, and our former “Christian” President Bush, chose to carry out a pre-emptive strike against Iraq.  I mention our US military because 60% of our military is evangelical Christians.  Also, there exists the fact that in 2002, 69% of conservative Christians support military action in Bagdad.  Both our military and our government are acting in very non-Christian manners and the staunchest Christians in the US support these actions. 

Finally, I want to bring this verse into the equation:

Colossians 3:2-5 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

Even though Paul focuses on sexual activities, thoughts, and greed he includes impurity.  With that broad term Paul includes anything that is not acceptable to Jesus and YHWH.  Yet modern Christians are anything but focused on earthly things.  They have created the War on Christmas, they are determined to put religious icons in secular government (public) locations, and they want to have their doctrine taught as science in public schools!  These three examples are but a few of the examples that modern Christians have not focused on things above but things here on earth!

Together, when you include the “stuck in the rat race” mentality, the pre-emptive strike attitude, and the focus on earthly matters it becomes clear that modern Christians are not disciples of Jesus.  No, they are Christians!  And the difference between being a disciple of Jesus and being a Christians is nearly as large a gap as that between Islam and Judaism.  Just like the difference between Muslim and Jew is based on which son of Abraham that religion follows, the difference between Disciple and Christian is as simple as following Jesus or following the Traditions of Men.  When will this “Christian” nation wake up and realize that they are not Disciples of Jesus! 

But to make things worse, even the “Christians” who begin to understand this do nothing.  Where is the fury that Jesus had in the Temple?  Where is the forcefulness of Paul’s defense of the True doctrine?  Why has even the “best” Christians allowed these false teachers to continue to preach without a single form of opposition!  Should we not see Christians that are not lukewarm act like this….Americans for the Truth about Homosexuals.  In general should we (the un-believers) not see Disciples of Jesus standing up and telling the false teachers of Christianity stop the hypocrisy?  Or is it that even the TrueChristians™ are afraid that Modern Christians are right? Or maybe they rationalize that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”?  Or how about this one:

1^st Cor 3:5 “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

Which is the verse used to claim (rationalized) that all Christians are equal!  But that is clearly not Paul’s intent:

1^st Cor 1:12-13 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

Yet today we have the exact same thing in Christendom.  One says I am a Baptist, another says I am a Catholic, and another says that they follow Jesus.  It is the same problem that Corinth had and it is still not resolved, yet today we have no Paul to demand correction!  Yet today we have divisions in the Church, based on the Traditions of Men, which no one will address.   What a truly sad state Christianity is in!  And how true Jesus was in saying this:

Luke 18:8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.  However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

This is getting to long, but I want to ask one more question.  Why is it that homosexuals, Atheists, and Muslim are the most despised in the US (pdf)?  Aren’t Christians supposed to be hated by the world:

John 15:19 If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own.  As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  That is why the world hates you.

Posted in Love, Personal Responsibility, Traditions of Men, Biblical topics, Becoming an atheist | Print | 14 Comments »

August 29, 2009, 9:58 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 8:31 – 8:59

I had completely forgotten that I have Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible as a resource.  Even though it is dated (1978), somewhat speculative, and written by the “Father” of modern Science Fiction, it does have some interesting tidbits.  Previously I had mentioned that the Gospel of John was similar to Gnostic Christianity.  Reading Asimov’s observations I was again reminded that the word “Logos”- (Word) in both Gnostic and mainstream Christianity means the same thing.  It also has the same spiritual meaning.  The Logos is the Light of the World and through Logos salvation will be delivered.  Jesus, in both forms of the same religion, is the Logos.

I will have to do a review of Asimov’s concepts (on the Gospels) in the future, it is a fascinating read.  I’m not sure where to put it at the moment…it is not a Holy Text.  And I am not ready to start delving into every possible commentary on each of the individual Holy Texts.  Since it agrees more with the non-believers point-of-view it is biased.  But at the same time it is Isaac Asimov’s work!  I know that I should not hold one particular man in such regard, but it is Asimov!  Such a dilemma, I will be adding observations from Asimov where it seems appropriate. 

I know that I glossed over a large amount of material in my last post on Chapter 8 of the Gospel of John.  And to be honest, this is most likely the most significant chapter on Jesus’ teachings that the Gospel of John introduces (other than the first chapter).  I feel that I am not doing this chapter justice.  But I am at a loss to the appropriate way to proceed.  That is one of the reasons I did not make a post yesterday, I was attempting to determine if I was missing something important enough to add more posts. 

I also got on an Atheist high horse in my last post!  This of course, led me to not address Jesus’ actual sermon.  As I had said in both the preliminary posts on this chapter…this sermon does not lend well to multiple posts!  I think that I should hold this post to just the section on Sons of God verses Sons of the devil.  This will mean that I will have one more post on this chapter that covers the last eleven verses of the chapter.

Here Jesus brings up the concept of slavery…not to another human but to actions.  At this point it is slavery to sin (and ultimately to the devil).  But elsewhere in the Word of God the only other choice is being a slave to YHWH:

1^st Cor 7:22-23 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freeman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.

Many other verses go along with this vain of thought.  If these are our only two choices: freewill is again questionable.  Slaves, by definition, do not have freewill – they must do as their master orders.  They also do not have the right (or power) to choose their master or even “win” their freedom from one master.  One master must buy the slave to change the slave’s ownership.  Technically, Jesus “paid” this fee, but then all of us would be slaves to YHWH, if this were the legal case.  More is obviously required.  And Jesus provides that “more” within this sermon.

These Jews, that believed him, do not understand him because they are slaves to their father, the devil (John 8:43-44 and 47).  We also know that a “house cannot be divided against itself (Mark 3:23-27)” and a person can only have “one master” (Luke 16:13).  So by Jesus’ standards we are all slaves, either to the devil or to YHWH.  As a result, we do not have freewill; we will do as our master orders us.

This is further proven by Jesus himself:

John 8:47 He who belongs to god hears what God says.  The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

By not belonging to YHWH, we cannot hear, and therefore understand, Jesus’ teachings.  It is a catch-22.  To understand Jesus we must already belong to YHWH, but to belong to YHWH we must understand Jesus!  With this circular logic and the catch-22 we are stuck in a perpetual dichotomy of either being saved or not with no power to change the “ownership” on our own. 

Oddly enough, science is getting to the point of solving the answer to the ultimate question: the Grand Unification (Unified Field Theory) and/or the Theory of Everything.  Many scientists are under the opinion that once this is understood, everything can be predicted.  If this is true, humanity does not have freewill…we are guided by the events prior to the choice being made and the outcome can be predicted.  On the other hand, due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, many more scientists are under the impression that nothing can ever be predicted with 100% confidence.  Isn’t it odd that both religion and science are struggling over the same concept?  Yet neither religion nor science can determine which is correct! 

Well, I did it again.  This chapter is extremely complex!  The implication of this sermon by Jesus are, without doubt, have the greatest influence on the Christian religion.  Yet, because on one hand it seems so simple, and on the other hand it is so complex, neither Christian nor non-believer attempt to delve into this passage.   

Posted in Gospel of John, Freewill, Readings | Print | 8 Comments »

August 29, 2009, 9:15 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 32:1-21

After 20 years of living with Laban, Jacob is now arriving close to his home.  He left home with an enemy, and then he left Paddan Aram with enemies.  He just made up with Laban, after correcting his sin of deception.  Now he must face his brother, which he also sinned against with deception.  I must say from an Atheist point of view Jacob was a humdinger of a great man!  I’m glad even most TrueChristiansTM don’t emulate this guy.

The first thing that is noticeable about this passage is that Jacob does not trust in YHWH.  He is so fearful of a man that he prepares to meet his brother like Esau has already beaten him.  Now I will admit that 400 men would be overwhelming, but Jacob has YHWH on his side.  He should show some confidence! 

Jacob attempts to protect his family by separating them into two groups.  He then sends messengers with gifts to his brother.  I like tables when the numbers get this large so:

If this is what Jacob can give to Esau as a pacification gift, Jacob is filthy rich!  To ensure that these gifts are truly appreciated Jacob sends them one at a time (each of their kind own kind) to Esau.  Can you imagine what Esau though when he had received each of these gifts?  The only thought would be “My little brother has done well! He is a powerful man and I respect what he has accomplished”.  But I will wait till the next post to see what happens.  Most of do know, there have been tons of movies made of this part of the Word.

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Posted in Genesis, Readings | Print | 2 Comments »