December 27, 2009, 11:39 am by dc-agape.

It is time to look at the results collected from this experiment.  This does not mean that the experiment is over, but the observations taken over the past year have lead to some interesting conclusions.  As with any experiment, the results will always be flexible and may change drastically with more observations.  At this point some conclusions can be estimated to have reached “steady states”.  I will discuss these observations in full with individual posts.  First, the results of operating a blog and my personal experiences with this project can be seen.  Making posts, writing daily, controlling spam commenters and trolls are all part of operating a blog.  Second, reading the “Holy Texts” has lead to some changes in my personal outlook.  Not the changes that Theist would expect, but overall some interesting ideas.  Third, unlike other Atheist blogs I have not had to deal with trolls or anti-Atheist bigotry.  This is a good thing, but it leads to an interesting conclusion.  I have obviously not stabbed a caged angry beast where it hurt!  Finally one missing result cannot not be denied, it just has not appeared.  YHWH has not intervened on my blogging.  This has neither been by direct interaction, making me more religious…or less tangible methods, such as attacks at home or cyber-issues.  YHWH has not made an appearance, nor has his followers been directed to intervene in any supernatural way!

From the Atheist perspective the experiment has been successful.  I will continue to read different spiritual texts focused on the Abrahamic faiths.  But I will not expect that YHWH and his minions will interfere with my experiment in any meaningful way.  I am particularly drawn to the Islamic Qur’an and to the Gnostics Nag Hammadi Library.  I will continue to look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Old Testament, and also the New Testament.  But it is will great interest that the DSC, OT, and the NT have become less than “Truthful” than I had assumed they would be when I started this experiment.  The NT has been the most disappointing.  Recognizing that over 66% of it was written by a man who was determined to destroy the original teaching of Jesus (which is now called Pauline Christianity) has been an eye-opening result of this experiment.  The fact that Paul wrote 13 of the Book in the NT is overwhelming.  Especially considering that there is only 27 Book in total.  Of the remaining book only with certainty can we be assured that followers of Paul did not write seven of the Books: The Gospel of John, James, and 1^st Peter, the Letters from John, and Jude.  These seven Books, in total from the NT, that are not Pauline in nature.  Worse is that these seven are not the central doctrine of modern Christianity!  The Books of James and Jude were written by the half-brothers of Jesus himself, yet neither of these Books are the focus of Christianity.  Peter was to be “Rock” of the Church, yet only one very short Book was written by him!  Does this not look strange to the believer?  It is certainly disappointing to an Atheist that we do not have the “True” teaching of Jesus recorded in historical documents!  Instead we have the teaching of a man determined to eradicate those same teachings (and his disciples) the focus of the modern Church.  What a truly sad state the Theist believes are left in…

Posted in State of Mind, Introduction | Print | 1 Comment »

December 20, 2009, 8:10 am by dc-agape.

The Treatise on the Resurrection

I am changing gears for a number of reasons.   First, I have lingered in the Dead Sea Scrolls for too long.    I had thought that I would post on five additional Scrolls, but they are indeed very dry and very technical with little spiritual importance to modern day Theists.  Secondly, the gotten bored.  For the most important reason is that I have come to a much stronger conclusion that the Pauline doctrines of the New Testament should be questioned.  Both Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi indicate a much stronger understanding and source for the teachings of Jesus.  As a result, I want to go ahead and work on the Nag Hammadi library.    The Treatise on the Resurrection is the next Scroll in this series. 

The scholars who have studied this Treatise can place this document as part of the Valentinian Gnostic doctrine.   The same scholars placed writing of this Treatise near the end of the second century CE.   This was a period of time in the new Christian religion where the concept of the Resurrection had not been firmly established.  Questions still abound as to whether the Resurrection would occur before death, immediately after death, or At the Second Coming (the Judgment Day).   More questions were still related an unresolved about whether the body, the soul, the mind, or a combination of these three would occur during the Resurrection.   This Treatise leaves no doubt in the mind of the reader exactly what the author understands will occur as part of the Resurrection.

The author of the Treatise does add one additional concept that is left out of modern Christianity.  It is certainly not a new one, but it is one that has been forgotten but almost all of today’s denominations.  The author indicates that once the Truth is known about death and the Resurrection one has already been resurrected.  As a result, one should live a life as If they already possess the new resurrected body.  In other words, outwardly the believer should live a life free from the worldly nature of humankind.

This concept is truly appealing to a gay Atheist.  First of all, this Treatise does indicate that predestination elects the believer.  No amount of persuasion is involved in believing in this religion, it is truly based on faith.  Second of all, this Treatise indicates that Christians should be noticeably different from the mortal unbelieving human.  Both these attributes fit what is observed in today’s modern Christian religion.  In other words, the unbeliever cannot be persuaded to have faith, and this faithful should not be identical (in nature) to the unbeliever.  Since neither of these concepts are applied in modern Churches it becomes obvious that the Valentinian faith is more accurate than the Pauline religion.

Posted in Resurrection, Treatise on the Resurrection, The Nag Hammadi, Biblical topics, Readings, Introduction | Print | 2 Comments »

December 18, 2009, 8:38 am by dc-agape.

The Coming of the Melchizedek

This Scroll is barely a page long and is somewhat fragmented.  The author(s) of this Scroll intended it to be a true interpretation of the Jubilee year, which occurred every 49 years.  Numerous Old Testament scripture has been used to explain the Yahad’s personal interpretation of the Jubilee year.  The Scroll is also filled with prophecy.  Unfortunately, this does not mean the prophecies took place.  The suggestion of using Bible verses to claim a prophecy will be fulfilled at a specific time is not a sign of a miracle.  This Scroll is a good example of how verses can be taken out of context and put in a future environment where they will lead to a “prophecy”.  The people of the time could not prove that the prophecy was wrong, and those people that lived when the prophecy was supposed to take place no longer knew that a prophecy had ever been written.  I will explain more about that and introduce the Old Testament verses that were used to create a false prophecy.

Lev 25:13 “’ In this Year of Jubilee everyone is returned to his own property.  

Deut 15:2 This is how it is to be done: every creditor show cancel the loan he is made to this fellow Israelite.  He shall not require payments from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.

These verses is interpreted as what will happen in the Last Days.  After 1878 years (1948 – 70 CE) the return of Israel to the Jewish people cannot constitute “returned to his own property”.  Family records were not kept of property ownership, so no one can return to their own property.

Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

Here the concept of Melchizedek is invoked.  It is Melchizedek himself that will proclaim the good news to the poor, the broken hearted, the captives and the prisoners.  This is a very Messiah like concept, written over 100 years before Jesus was supposed to be born. But unlike Christian theology a specific time and specific people were to receive this “Good News”.  During the 10^th Jubilee Year (500 years in the future) those who were predestined to be atoned for would receive the “Good News”.  So not just any poor or broken-hearted, or captive, or prisoner – no, only the Sons of Light would receive the “Good News”.

Isa 61:2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,

This is the verse that the author(s) change to fit their own desires.  It is no longer “the Lord’s favor”, they change it to “Melchizedek’s favor”.  Now this gives the believer something to hope for that is not just a vague “sometime in the future near the End of Days”. 

Psalms 82:1 God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the “gods”:

The Yahad’s version of this verse is also slightly different than our NIV translation.  The Yahad believed that a second figure was to presided in YHWH’s presence and give judgment. 

Psalms 7:7-8 Let the assembled people gather around you.  Ruled over them from on high; let the Lord judge the people.  Judge me, Oh Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.

They back up Psalm 82:1 with this verse claiming that one would rule from on high.  Their interpretation is that this person would be Melchizedek.

Psalms 82:2 “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

This introduces the evils of mankind and the source of that evil: Belial…not the Christian Satan.  Men’s desire for evil will punished by Melchizedek himself at this time (500 years in the future).

Isa 61:3 and provide for those who grieve and Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of one of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair.  They will be called the oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. 

Here is a promise for those who live righteously during that future time.  Melchizedek will be the one who bestows the crown, provides the oil and garments. 

Isa 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Here the “mountains are prophets and they will proclaim the truth to all Israel.  Notice that in hindsight this did not happen since between 300 – 500 AD the Israelite nation had crumbled. 

Dan 9:26 After the sixty two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.  The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations has been decreed.

This “Anointed One” is the same as the one from Isa 61:2 who provides the vengeance of YHWH and comforts “all who mourn”.  The “Anointed One” will teach the people about the Truth and eternity.  He will also be instrumental in take Belial’s dominion and return it to the Sons of Light.

Isa 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Here Zion is those who turn to Melchizedek and are the ones predestined to follow him.  They will differ from the ways of man by proclaiming good news, peace, good tidings, and salvation.

Lev 25:9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the 10^th day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.

The Scroll ends without explaining this last verse.  But it is obvious that this should be taken as the sign that the prophecy written in this Scroll has taken place when the people here the trumpet sound. 

As with most “prophecy”, this one was written for a future generation.  This one happens to be the one that would have existed in the newly Christianized Roman Empire.  Basically about the time when Theodosius died and the Roman Empire was split into two distinct providences: the Eastern and the Western.  So if this prophecy was “true” a very important question is raised.  Which “Church” is the correct church and which one follows Belial?  Would this be the Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox?  The implications are astounding, for the Protestant and the Evangelical Churches of the US are based on the Catholic branch. 

Posted in Important Questions, The Coming of Melchizedek, Dead Sea Scroll, kingdom of God, Freewill, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

December 8, 2009, 7:55 am by dc-agape.

A Vision of a New Jerusalem

The good news is that I finished the proposal for my trip to Korea!  The bad news is that I still have 2 journal articles to write and prepare 2-3 presentations for upcoming professional conferences!  Hopefully I will have time to devote to this blog again.

In attempting that I want to discuss the next Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls entitled “A Vision of a New Jerusalem”.  But this scroll will take two posts.  This post is dedicated as an introduction, whereas the second post will be the actual reading of the scroll.  The concept of a new Temple and a New Jerusalem is the reason for this scroll and I want to cover a little history before delving into the actual Scroll.

Of course the Old Testament has a number of references to a new Temple.  But only the New Testament (Ezekiel, Isaiah, Ezra and Tobit) has a reference to the New Jerusalem (Ezekiel and Revelation).  The Dead Sea Scrolls has an additional Scroll call the Temple Scroll that only deals with the New Temple itself.  What I want to do in this post is look at the other religious documents that relate to the Vision of a New Jerusalem.  These would be the five that I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.

The Book of Ezekiel was written between 593 and 565 BCE.  During this time Nebuchadnezzar and his armies destroyed the original Temple in 586 BCE, which Solomon built in 960 BCE.  Interestingly, when one does physical research on this “First Temple” there is not documentation (except the Bible) of it ever existing and worse is that there is no archeological proof that it existed either!¹  To add to this, even the Jewish Talmud claims that the Temple was not destroyed until 420 BCE.²  But if we should take Ezekiel at face value…his writings were either recorded as the Temple was destroyed or after the destruction.  One must keep in mind that the war between the Babylonians and the Israelites had been in progress since 597 BCE, prior to the recording of the Book of Ezekiel.  The chapters in the Book of Ezekiel of importance to this post are chapters 40 – 48.  Here Ezekiel has a vision of a new Temple surrounded by a new territory for the Israelite community.  As recorded in Ezekiel 45:1 the Temple grounds would be 25,000 cubits by 20,000 cubits (4.73 x 3.78 miles, 7.62 x 6.096 km) and the city itself would be an additional 4.48 sq. miles.  Yes that is right the temple would 8 times the size of the city of Jerusalem.  So the Temple plus the city would be 22.4 sq. miles, as big as Dover, Delaware, USA (the capital of that state)!  But 88% of the city would be devoted to the Temple.  The Levites would live in 11% of the city and the rest of Israel (the other 11 tribes) would have the remaining 11%.  This would be a very large city to cross by horse!  It is also the oddest organization of a city ever designed.  Most likely Ezekiel was fantasying about the good old days and exaggerated the size of the city.

This New Jerusalem’s design is almost as staggering as that proposed by John of Patmos who describes a city in the Book of Revelation.  In Rev 21:9-27, John of Patmos describes a city that is 1,350 x 1,350 miles in size.  That is nearly the entire area of the planet when the oceans have been removed (1,822,500 sq miles or 4,720,000 sq km)!  For a reference to this size: the USA is 9.6 million sq km and India is only 3.3 million sq km.  Heaven will be only half the size of the present day US.  I certainly hope there are not too many souls there!  India has become over populated at the present count of 1.2 billion people.

Two more of the references describe the dreams of the Israelite people and how they long for a splendor of the old days.  In the Book of Isaiah (Isa 54:11-12) the New Jerusalem is described as having layers on layers of fine jewels.

Isaiah 54:11-12 “O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build with stones turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.  I will make your battlements of rubies, and all your walls of precious stones. 

Will we can certainly say that this Zion has never been built!  Earlier in this chapter two other promises from YHWH have still not been fulfilled either (Isaiah 54:3 or 8).   Reading this chapter it is quite obvious that Isaiah was describing an earthly kingdom.  Nothing of the description of the New Zion indicates a heavenly city.  It is beautifully written, and beautifully described but these three promises have not been fulfilled.  So we can be sure that these were fantasies of a misplaced society wishing for better days.  The other Old Testament reference is only found in the Catholic Bible. 

Tobit 14:5 And that again God will have mercy on them, and bring them again into the land, where they shall build a temple, but not like to the first, until the time of that age is fulfilled; and afterward they shall return from all the places of their captivity, and build up Jerusalem gloriously, and the house of God shall be built and it forever was a glorious building, as the prophets have spoken thereof.

The Book of Tobit was canonized in 397 AD.  So if it existed as an Old Testament book written by the Jewish people we have no proof of that.  So here we have a catholic writer pretending to be a Jewish writer wishing for the better Jerusalem.  Is it just me, being an Atheist that this sounds wrong?

One verse in the Old Testament does describe how the people of Israel were disappointed by the New Temple.  This would be from the Book of Ezra.  In verse 12 of that book it describes how the older members of the community wept bitterly for they knew that the New Temple was not what the prophets had described.  So here the bible explicitly indicates that the Second Temple was not the prophesied Temple of YHWH.  So even though an earthly temple was described by the prophets, as of this date no such temple has been built.  As an Atheist this would seem to be an unfulfilled prophecy, making it a false prophecy.  Yet to get around this problem, Christian apologist claim that the prophecy is related to a heavenly Jerusalem instead of an earthly one.  What a load a crap!

¹ D. Langmead and C. Garnaut (2001). Encyclopedia of architectural and engineering feats (3rd, illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO, Inc. pp 314-319.

² Seder Olam Rabbah; An Ancient Post-exilic Judaic document written in the Hebrew language.

Posted in Contradictions, Vision of a New Jerusalem, Dead Sea Scroll, Inerrancy - My Ass, Tall Tales, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

December 2, 2009, 9:24 am by dc-agape.

The War of the Messiah

Well I certainly did not finish these scrolls in 10 days!  And I was certainly not prepared to write posts for the last month – even if I had brought my copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls to North Carolina.  The only writing I accomplished was a rough draft and hopefully the final copy of my proposal to study in Korea this summer.  But let me get back to the DSC.

To refresh your memory and mine, I will repeat my opening statements about this particular scroll.  This Scroll is two pages long and when discovered created quite a controversy.  As more research was placed on the meaning of this document, the Yahad were determined to believe that the Messiah would be victorious and make Israel a leading nation in the world. 

The source material for John of Patmos’ Book of Revelations is sitting open in front of me at this very moment.  In the War of the Messiah, written between 200 and 100 BCE, the Israelite hopes of an earthly Messiah are recorded without apology.  Two Old Testament “prophecies” are recorded in this Scroll verbatim.  Both references are written with an introduction recorded as:

4Q285 Frag. 4 just as it is written in the book of Ezekiel the prophet:

Ezek 39:3-4 Then I will strike your bow from your hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand.  On the mountain of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you.

4Q285 Frag. 7 + 11Q14 Frag. 1 Col. 1 – just as it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet:

Isaiah 10:34-11:1 He will cut down the forest thickets with an axe; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.  A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

To this very day many Christians claim that Matt 2:23 is in reference to Isaiah 11:1.  So there is little doubt that this concept – of linking Jesus with Isaiah 11 – was well known in the century when Christianity began.  Ezekiel 39 has the same connotation, since it has not come to pass yet: Lebanon is still a country in the Middle East, and is still bordering Israel.  For the Yahad the hope was that these verses would be fulfilled with the first coming of the Messiah, for Christian this exact same hope is now placed in the second coming of the Messiah.  But in the end for over 2100 years these verses have been used by Jews and Christians alike to claim prophecy in the Bible has accurate prophecies.

Isn’t wonderful that religion can depend on eternity to fulfill prophecy!  If it doesn’t work this time maybe in the following year or the year after that or maybe in the next century, or how about 2100 years from now this prophecy will come true!  They may be waiting for another 2000 years before these prophecies are realized…

It truly amazes me that random acts of current events can be used to claim that a “prophecy” has been fulfilled.  Yet the same people cannot understand that evolution can, but almost always does not, occur the exact same way!  The act of restoring the nation of Israel by the UN in 1948 has even been claimed to fulfill prophecy by those who believe that the rapture will occur before the seven years of tribulations.

To a gay Atheist these promises of unfilled prophecy are just fantasy of the desperate.  These are just people clinging to an old religion that has had fragmentation from the beginning of the religion.  As I read more of the Dead Sea Scrolls it becomes obvious that the people who started the Christian religion were just using specific hopes and desires of the community of that time to draw crowds to their fledging religion.  It is obvious that the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was responsible for a large number of people to lose faith in Judaism.  Those same people were looking for something new, they found it in Christianity. 

Posted in War of the Messiah, Dead Sea Scroll, Readings | Print | 5 Comments »