August 21, 2010, 7:56 am by dc-agape.

Mark 15:1-20

These last two chapters of the Gospel of Mark are crucial to the Christian faith.  Yet from a gay Atheist’s reading of the Bible two major “flaws” are quite apparent.  One is the story of Jesus being by himself in front of the Sanhedrin, Pontius Pilot, possibly Herod Antipas, and the soldiers prior to being lead to the crucifixion.  Who exactly recorded this information?  The second “flaw” is the relationship between accounts and Jesus fulfilling the prophecy here:

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

In the Gospel of Mark he said two things to his “oppressors” but in the Gospel of John Jesus became extremely long winded.

The biggest question that requires an answer is who recorded these events?  Did Jesus, after returning to his disciples tell them all about?  Then why would there be such a huge variation in the story?  True the synoptic Gospels are all second hand info…which would make the events in the Sanhedrin third hand information.  The Gospel of John would be more accurate, but it would still be second hand recollection written between 20 and 50 years after the event.  Everyone knows that second hand information that is at least 20 years old is suspect.  If the story was third hand or 50 years old, wouldn’t that make the entire section before the Sanhedrin useless information.  Since this is the crux of the faith, how safe is it to use this information to base the future of your soul?  Or do Christians just ignore these questionable passages?  If you don’t think about it, it’s ok?  On the other hand, if you believe that one of the Sanhedrin joined the Church after these events and confessed all the deeds, many other people would be required as well…one of the soldiers who mocked him, a servant to Pilot or Herod, etc.  This is even more unreliable than the other hypothesis, due to the number of people required.  And these are hypotheses…it is not recorded in the Bible who was responsible for this information being passed to the authors of the four Gospels.

Now the other flaw is actually more serious.  Jesus claimed, and the Traditions of Men, continue to claim that Jesus fulfilled a prophecy from Isaiah 53 in this chapter.  Yet he was not silent.  In the Gospel of John (John 18:19-39) he preached to the Sanhedrin and to Pontius Pilot.  As a result, if you take Isaiah 53 to be a prophecy about Jesus, then this prophecy was not fulfilled.  I have pointed out in other posts that Jesus made the prophecies fit the situation.  I have, also, pointed out where he took verses so out of context and claimed them to be prophecy about himself.  Here I am pointing out that he did not fulfill prophecy at all.  The core of Christian faith is that Jesus fulfilled prophecy, yet a close read of the Bible and it is apparent that much of this is not true.  How do Christians adjust their faith to include these blunders in the inerrant Word of God?

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August 14, 2010, 10:11 am by dc-agape.

Mark 14:32-72

This section starts in Gethsemane and moves to a late night meeting of the entire Sanhedrin.  At first, in Gethsemane, Jesus has second thoughts about the plans that YHWH and he created.  Then, just as required, for those plans to be enacted, Judas carries out his duty.  Once they are in the Sanhedrin Jesus is almost off the hook, until he blasphemies in front of the high priest.  At the end of the chapter Peter does exactly what Jesus prophesied.  Within this section of the Gospel of Mark three people carry out what is predestined to happen to them.  In both Jesus’ and Peter’s case it is against their own will, with Judas he deeply regrets it afterwards.  But none of them can change what YHWH has forced upon them.

In Gethsemane, three times Jesus goes and begs YHWH to take this predestination away from him.  Each one seems to be an about an hour long.  Since the Lord’s Supper was not started until after night fall, by the time these prayers were done it had to have been after midnight.  Yet Jesus, knowing the weakness of humans, still rebuked his disciples each time.  They certainly did not know what Jesus knew, and were not distressed like Jesus about the future.  They had just eaten a late dinner and the food made them sleepy.  Here we see an example of how human Jesus truly was, his concern is only about himself and he has no compassion for his disciples. 

During this third rebuke, Judas arrives with a large number of men to arrest Jesus.  Obviously, Jesus had made sure that Judas knew where to find him.  And obviously, Jesus stayed there until Judas arrived.  Whether this was predestination or an actual plan between Jesus and Judas is not clear.  But being at Gethsemane early in the morning hours, instead of in the town of Bethany (where they stayed during the trip to Jerusalem) certainly made the arrest easier and did not require a large number of people knowing about it.

During the arrest, Peter actually attacks one of the servants (not the high priest himself – bad choice).  We know that it is Peter from a different Gospel (John 18:10).  In other stories of this event, Jesus rebukes Peter against the act.  What is the oddest part of this story is that Peter is not arrested for harming the servant of the high priest.  Wouldn’t the high priest take that act as a personal affront?  Instead, Peter is allowed to remain near Jesus once they get to the meeting of the Sanhedrin. 

There are some odd correlations between the OT prophecies and what is written in the NT as acts that Jesus performed to carry out those prophecies.  In the Book of Isaiah chapter 53, Jesus does exactly what is required (Isaiah 53:7), but other references to the OT are not so clear.  In fact, they seem to be taken way out of context.  During Jesus’ rebuke of his disciples for falling asleep the NIV claims that this is a reference to:

Psalms 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

This has nothing to do with what Jesus complains to his disciples about:

Mark 14:38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

In the Psalms verse it is obviously a prayer to have a willing spirit.  In Mark, Jesus assumes that his disciple have a willing spirit.  So the two verses are not related and revering to the Psalms verse at this point is meaningless.  The other verse that seems to be taken out of context, by our editors, is the reference to Zechariah 13:7.  It is taken out of context because when Jesus is arrested everyone deserted him and in Zech something similar happens.  But take a closer look:

Zech 13:7-8 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, again the man who is close to me!” declares the Lord Almighty.  “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.  In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.

Zechariah has nothing to do with Jesus crucifixion.  YHWH did not strike down 2/3 of the whole land after Jesus was arrested and killed.  Obviously, this combination of verses is a Tradition of Man that is incorrect.  Why do we persist in allowing such misinterpretations to continue?  Why is it ok for some people to take verses out of context (including Jesus)?  Taking the Word of God out of context is changing the Word and we know what will happen to people who do this:

Proverbs 30:5-6 Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.  Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

In the Sanhedrin, Jesus is quite and no one can bring true witness against him.  I wonder when this part was transferred from Jesus to the disciples.  Jesus does not see his disciples again until after he is crucified.  But Jesus does himself in at the end.  In front of all the religious leaders Jesus says this about himself:

Mark 14:62 “I am,” said Jesus, “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

It was unanimously decide that Jesus should be put to death.  But by

Lev 24:16 Say to the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death.  The entire assembly must stone him.  Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Again the Word of God is taken out of context.  Blaspheme in this context is cursing YHWH’s name…not claiming to be the Son of Man.

The chapter ends with Peter denying Jesus, just as Jesus predicted.  Peter had no freewill.  The first two denials seem trivial; one is to a servant girl and the second time was to the exact same servant girl.  The third denial is serious.  In front of a large number of people, Peter calls down curses on himself to lie to the crowds that he is not related to Jesus.  As soon as this occurred the rooster crows and Peter is filled with remorse. 

This story read without the god bias, leaves a gay Atheist wondering how Christians read this Book and not recognize the falsehoods that are blatantly apparent.  The OT is taken out of reference, punishment for crimes are strangely absent (Peter’s physical attack), stories that cannot be related to the author (Jesus before the Sanhedrin) and the proof that none of these characters had freewill.  It would seem that anyone reading these verses would see the truth…that these are stories that have been modified, if not completely made up.

Posted in Word of God, Traditions of Men, Inerrancy - My Ass, Gospel of Mark, Freewill, Readings | Print | 2 Comments »

August 8, 2010, 9:39 am by dc-agape.

Mark 15:21-47
This is the story of how the Christian savior died.  It would be a horrible tale no matter who it was about. Mankind has devised many ways to torture, but crucifixion is supposed to be one of the longest, painful, and most humiliating one ever created.  Jesus was but one of millions (Wikipedia) who have been killed in this way.  What truly makes this story so sad is that we have four accounts of it in the inerrant Word of God that is so inconsistent we don’t know what happened.

Because it is recorded four different times the traditional thought was that we got to see four different perspectives.  But this is just not the case.  Five different things happened only in one of the stories; the other stories either omit these happenings or outright deny them.  To compound the variability of the story (and hence its veracity) the parts about Joseph of Arimathea and the location of the tomb are not anywhere close to being in harmony.  The prophecies of his death will require a second post, there are just too many taken out of context.

The six differences that break the harmony of the story include: the thieves, an earthquake, the undead, Jesus’ mother, Nicodemus, trip to Golgotha.  Starting with the thieves, in two of the stories the thieves heap insults on Jesus as all three die (Matt 27:44, Mark 15:32).  Only in Luke 23:40-42 does one of the thieves ask to be remembered by Jesus.  If he was insulting Jesus to begin with, what would be the point in asking to be remembered at a different period of time?  The Gospel of Matthew has two more events that are not collaborated by the other three Gospels. 

Matt 27:51-53 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in tow from top to bottom.  The earth shook and the rocks split.  The tombs broke open and he bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared too many people.

No other Gospel records these two events.  Don’t you think that if the earth shook the disciples would all have remembered it?  Don’t you think that is a bunch of zombies entered Jerusalem all the disciples would have recorded it?  The Gospel of John (the only actual witness) also has two events that are not collaborated by the other Gospels.  Does his actual witness make it correct?  The other three Gospels do not mention that Mary the mother of Jesus was witness to the crucifixion.  Only in John 19:26-27 is this story mentioned.  Yet all the other Gospels mention which Mary’s were present (Matt 27:55-56, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49).  The other event that occurred only in the Gospel of John was the burial preparation that Nicodemus and Joseph of Ariamthia carried out.  Nicodemus is not even mentioned being there by the other Gospels.  Lastly, the trip to Golgotha is not in harmony between the four Gospels either.  Three of the Gospels remember Simon of Cyrene (Matt 27:47, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26) carrying the cross for Jesus.  Yet in the Gospel of John (John 19:17) Jesus carries it himself.  These six events that are not collaborated by the other Gospels indicate the disharmony in the Gospels. They are much more important than the directly copied verses from the Gospel of Mark into the other Gospels at telling us something about this story. 

The most telling errors in the Gospel stories about the crucifixion of Jesus is that of Joseph of Arimathea and the location of the tomb.  Two of the Gospel openly tell that Joseph was a disciple (Matt 27:57, John 19:38) the other two Gospels only say that he was a Council member (Mark 15:43, Luke 24:50).  They all agree that he was responsible for taking Jesus’ body to a tomb (I get to that in a minute).  He was the most important person in the story at that moment, yet the disciples could not remember him well enough to be accurate about whom he was?  If Joseph was a disciple and helped them in the worst period of their experience with Jesus, don’t you think they would give him proper recognition?  At least all four of the Gospels remember him as a disciple?  It seems to a gay Atheist to be a great oversight in the harmony of the Gospels that Joseph is so poorly documented. 

The other poorly documented and extremely important piece of information that is not recorded accurately is where the tomb was located.  In the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 27:59-60) the tomb actually belongs to Joseph of Arimathea (another reason to remember him better).  But in both the Gospel of Mark (Mark 15:46) and the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24:53) the tomb is unspecified.  But the oddest of all is what the Gospel of John says about the tomb:

John 19:41-42 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.  Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

John’s documentation of the tomb is quite different from the others.  This tomb obviously did not belong to Joseph of Arimathea.  Why would he purchase a tomb in Golgotha, where the crucifixions took place?  But since the disciples actually did not know where Jesus was buried, how can they (and we by extension) be certain that there was ever an empty tomb?  This is the most critical piece of the resurrection story and the disciples and we don’t even know where it took place!  Would not the exact place where Jesus rose from the dead be remembered by the disciples?  And wouldn’t they, even secretly, point it out to all the new followers?

Yet, instead, there is no consensus on where and what took place during this most important time in the history of Christianity.  The validity of the entire story is broken by these “personal” additions that conflict with the other “eye witnesses”.  In the end, the inerrancy of the Word of God is put to the test.  And guess what…it failed. 

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August 7, 2010, 9:56 am by dc-agape.

Mark 14:1-31

Three stories occur in this section of the Gospel of Mark.  First, Mary the sister of Lazarus, anointed Jesus.  The story of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary are only told in the Gospel of John.  Second, is the “Lord’s Supper”.  This is where Jesus predicts his betrayal and death.  Third, the freewill of Peter is compromised.  Jesus knows not just that Peter will deny him, but he knows that it will be three times before morning.

The story of the anointing of Jesus is actually damaging to the notion that the Word of God is inerrant.  This, if you add all the Gospels together, is the second time that Jesus is anointed by a woman with expensive perfume.  Unfortunately, the Gospel of Mark only has one story and the Gospel of Luke has the other story.  In the Gospel of Mark it is Mary the sister of Lazarus (the man Jesus “Wakes up” in other Gospels, but not in Lazarus does not appear in Mark).  In the Gospel of Luke (Luke 7:36-39), it is a sinful woman.  The “god bias” explains this as the different writers remembering different things that happened in the three years of Jesus’ ministry.  But oddly, Mary of Magdalene is attributed to this act, making her the sinful woman!  This is by far due to the Traditions of Men.  Yet we do not know the sinful woman’s name (only in the Gospel of Luke), we know that it is Lazarus’ sister in one story (Gospel of Mark), and we only know Mary of Magdalene as one of Jesus’ followers.  The stories of the anointing do have very similar plots.  They all have expensive perfumes, it is carried out by a woman, and the disciples complain about the lost of an expensive bottle that could be used to help the poor.  But there are dissimilarities as well; in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke it is on Jesus’ head and in The Gospels of Luke and John it is on Jesus’ feet.  The timing of the event is also not consistent.  When comparing the four different accounts, of what must have been the exact same event, it is obvious to a gay Atheist (without the god bias) that the Word of God is not completely reliable.  With this in mind the question becomes what parts are reliable and which parts must be changes due to the Traditions of Man.  These types of mistakes by an inerrant YHWH only reinforce an Atheists determination that YHWH does not exist or is so powerless that his worship is not required.

We also read about Judas Iscariot for the first time in this chapter of Luke.  It is odd that John Mark only refers to Judas when it comes to betraying Jesus, especially since Jesus shortly explains that this must happen.  I will repeat this again, the freewill of Judas is compromised.  Jesus might have been using Isaiah chapter 53 when he describes the betrayal, but reading that chapter betrayal is not one of the events that will take place.  It is much more likely (without the god bias) that Jesus and Judas conspired together to ensure that “the prophecies” would be fulfilled.

The Beginning of the Lord’s Supper is quite interesting as well.  Even thought the population of Jerusalem has doubled for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Jesus just happens to have a room.  And it just so happens that when two of his disciples enter the city they met the man who Jesus told them to find.  All the food was ready, the room was ready, and all this planning occurred between Jesus’ arrival in Bethany and the Supper.  We know that Judas was responsible for the money (John 13:29)…so wouldn’t have to be Judas who paid the man for the room?  You don’t believe that the citizen of Jerusalem didn’t make a killing off of Celebrations like this do you?  And would Jesus trust the man he knew would betray him with the money?  There was obviously a deeper relationship between Judas and Jesus than the Traditions of Man would allow you to think. 

During the Supper, Jesus even directly points out which one will betray him. 

Mark 14:20 “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.

Yet none of the other disciples seem to recognize the significance.  In John 13:26, Jesus is even more specific.  If you knew who was going to betray your Teacher (Savior) would you not do something about it?  Instead, the disciples ignore what Jesus says and continue eating. 

The last part of this section is also about freewill.  Jesus predicts that all his disciples will “fall away” before morning.  Jesus knows that he will be arrested that night.  Either this is foreknowledge of the future, negating all freewill, or he planned the events with Judas.  Those are the only two options that explain what is about to happen.  He is so specific in Peter’s denial that he says:

Mark 14:30 I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today – yes, tonight – before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.”

The fear that the disciples would feel after Jesus’ arrest would explain this behavior, but knowing that Peter would repeat this denial three times in less than 12 hours…is proof that we do not have freewill.  If the Christian god exists, we do not have freewill!  We are just enacting what has already been recorded!  Because of this, YHWH is not a loving god, he has already decided who will be saved and who will be punished for the acts that he himself has forced upon us. 

Posted in Traditions of Men, Inerrancy - My Ass, Gospel of Mark, Freewill, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

July 31, 2010, 8:27 am by dc-agape.

Mark 13

This is the famous chapter that many people use to claim that the end is near.  To their misfortune that has not occurred in the last few centuries.  A proper reading of the entire chapter will leave you with 3 distinct possibilities.  First, Jesus was talking about the Day of Pentecost.  The entire chapter is devoted to preparing his disciples for this Day.  Second, if Jesus is describing his return…then two things contradict this interpretation.  One, he uses the phrase “this generation will certainly not pass away”.  Well the generation that he spoke to certainly did pass away.  Two, these end times do not agree with the Book of Revelation. Rev 19:11-21 speaks of the return of Jesus on a white horse which is nothing like Jesus’ depiction in Mark 13:26-27.  The last possibility is that John Mark (or later scribes) muddled this story from different messages that Peter told in Rome.  Parts of this story are about the end of Jerusalem, others could be about the end times. 

What were the signs to look for?

1)      False Prophets:  Jesus uses this at the beginning (Mark 13:6) and in the middle (Mark 13:21-22).  I don’t know how many false prophets occurred in the 1^st century AD, but we certainly have ours now (rev Hagee – Jewish Journal).

2)      Rumors of war:  Mark 13:7-8 – Well there have certainly been plenty of wars!

3)      Earthquakes: Mark 13:8 – Well that doesn’t give us any new info either.

4)      Plagues: Mark 13:8 – Nothing new there either.

5)      Persecution: Mark 13:9-13 – well it certainly happened in the 1^st few centuries.  But today is rather rare and family members are not the ones turning in their blood relatives.  One site here does describe the “persecution” today – Kjos Ministries. 

6)      Destruction of Jerusalem: Mark 13:14-15.  Well that certainly happened in 70AD (Eyewitness to History).  It certainly has not occurred again.  If fact, it has been fortified and protected by the greatest powers on the planet.  Both the United States and the Muslim religion protect the city of Jerusalem.

7)      Days of distress: Mark 13:15-20.  Here is a good one:

a.      Mark 13:19 because those days will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now – and never equaled again.

b.      So the Days of Distress will be worse than the flood!  And nothing like that will ever happen again…meaning that it is not the end of the world (or the heavenly kingdom – which requires the destruction of the old earth – Rev 21:1).

8 )      Jesus will return: Mark 13:26-27.  These verses are very different from Rev 20.  In the Gospel of Mark Jesus says that he will gather the elect from earth and heaven.  In opposition to this The Book of Revelation chapter 20 only talks about rising the elect dead without any coming from heaven.

9)      This generation will not pass away: Mark 13:30.  Either the end times occurred in the first century AD or we have to wait until #1, #6, and #7 occur.  Even accounting for the partial destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD #1 and #7 will be tough ones.

Since we don’t need to worry about this happening anytime soon and won’t know when it is going to happen (Mark 13:32-33), there is one thing that we should be worried about.  The term elect is used in this chapter, which should make everyone perk up their ears and listen.

Mark 13:20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive.  But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

We are back to freewill.  YHWH will choose the elect.  We do not choose to be the elect; we don’t have the freewill to be saved.  But this elect will be immune to false teachings:

Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible.

Jesus is not just banking on the elect not being gullible…he knows that they cannot be fooled.  How many today are fooled by false teachings and false prophets?  38,000 denominations of Christianity exist as of this day; can all of them be right?  How many of them do miracles  (Polycarp)?  How many of them say here is Christ (gotquestions.org)?  How many of them prophecy the end times are near (Fundamental Preaching)?

Posted in Inerrancy - My Ass, kingdom of God, Gospel of Mark, Freewill, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

July 24, 2010, 8:37 am by dc-agape.

Mark Chapter 12

This chapter has some very interesting things to say about the “New World Order”.  First, Jesus starts with a parable about the judgment against Israel.  This is the “Parable of the Tenants”.  The chapter then moves onto the separation of church and state.  This is a particularly relevant topic for today.  Then we have a rather odd question asked by the Sadducees.  I say this because of what little is known (Jewish Virtual Library) about them makes asking this question unlikely.  Jesus then teaches his listeners the 2 “Greatest Commandment”.  Every time I read this section I wish that today’s “Christians” would remember this one section of the Word of God.  Then Jesus uses the opening verses from Psalms 110.  This Psalm happens to be a quite violent praise to the Lord, so adds confusion to Jesus’ ministry.  Finally, the verse which is loved by all religious leaders…the poor giving the Church every last part of a penny up to YHWH.  Without a doubt, this chapter is about the New World Order.

First, I will start with the Parable of the Tenants.  Sharecropping (Georgia Encyclopedia) and tenant farming (Answers.com) have been one step away from slavery for thousands of years.  Rarely do they benefit the workers; most always the landlord reaps all the reward for the labor of the tenants.  When Jesus compares Israel to tenant farming he is saying much more than the reader might think.  YHWH is the landowner and he is the one who has reaped all the rewards from Israel’s farming.  When YHWH wants payment the tenants beat and kill his messengers.

This is also a warning about not listening to the prophets, YHWH’s messengers.  Here Jesus is directly referring to himself as the son of YHWH.  I particularly like Jesus using a Psalms (118:22-23) that was written to celebrate victory over great odds in battle.  I love how Jesus takes verses out of context and uses them to strengthen his ministry.  But what is worse is that this only strengthens his followers to believe that Jesus is there as an earthly messiah.  By using this Psalms Jesus’ listeners will be looking for freedom from the Roman occupation of Israel.

The next part of the chapter is of great interest to most Atheists.  Jesus flat out says that there is a difference between government and religion:

Mark 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Our money today is identical to the denarius of Rome.  Jesus clearly states that our governments deserve separation from what belongs to YHWH.  Even though the question is about paying taxes…it can be applied to ownership as well.  Nowhere in this section does Jesus say that government should give money to YHWH.  Make note of that…the money to religion is not to be taken from the government; it is to come from the followers of Christianity!

The third part of this chapter is quite strange.  The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, so for them to ask this question is rather suspect.  That the Sadducees (New World Encyclopedia) were active in Jerusalem is also suspect, most of the people despised the Sadducees.  But the two most interesting things about this section of the chapter are first that Jesus clearly states that in the afterlife families will not be reunited!  Second, that Jesus would tell the Sadducees this:

Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the living.  You are badly mistaken!”

The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, they only believed in the living world.  Jesus would have known this.  But the writer (John Mark) might not have known this, or possibly scribal error in later centuries changed the story.  Without a doubt, there is an error in the inerrant Word of God.

Continuing with the concept of a New World Order…Jesus gives a lecture on the two greatest commandments.  The first:

Luke 12:30 Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Here is a commandment that Christianity needs to focus on.  Jesus clearly says that you can’t do it half assed.  Your heart, soul, mind, and strength must be involved.  I have not seen any sign today that christians obey this commandment.  The second commandment is even less visible today:

Mark 12:31 the second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.  There is no commandment greater than these.”

Christians: get with the program this is the New World Order.  Your YHWH comes first and loving your neighbor (no hate crimes) is second.  Act like you even have read this and understood these verses!

Near the end of the chapter Jesus questions how he can be the son of David.  He really does not answer this question…a common thread to Jesus’ teaching (Mark 9:12-13, Mark 9:49-50, and Mark 11:33).  In fact, Jesus changes the topic.  He finishes his lecture on the topic of being pretentious.  He warns the people about wanting praise from other people and pretentious displays of religiosity.  He ends this section with a dire warning to those people:

Luke 12:40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.  Such men will be punished most severely.

Here is a warning to the Televangelist:  stop taking the widow’s property, ignore the desire to be well-known, and quit making long pretentious prayers.

But to muddy the water, John Mark finishes the chapter with the story about the widow letting the religious leaders of the day “devour widow’s houses”.  She has given everything she has to a religious offering.  And Jesus praises her for it.  Contradiction within three verses, I think we have a winner on the shortest space between contradicting verses in the Word of God.

So this is the New World Order that Jesus attempted to create.  First is a world full of sharecroppers where God reaps the better deal.  Second is a world where governments are separate from religion.  Third is a world were in the afterlife people are not reunited with family.  Fourth is a world where people love YHWH and their neighbors.  Fifth is a world where religious leaders are not pretentious.  And finally sixth is a world where the poor give everything they have to those not pretentious religious leaders.  Parts of this New World Order would be wonderful, from an Atheist point of view.  Personally I would love to see numbers two, four, and five be the focus.  Unfortunately, Christians have only accepted two of these requirements for the New World Order: the first and the last.  Not the best out of the six tenants of the New World Order.

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June 26, 2010, 11:02 am by dc-agape.

Mark 10:1-12

Well this is certainly an interesting section of the Gospel of Mark.  It is Jesus’ teachings on the topic of divorce.  Jesus has only one thing to say, but he does have to answer a question with a question first.  Don’t you love it when someone does that to you?  Doesn’t make you think they are stalling or acting “all superior?  Either way Jesus response makes you think he is a tad bit arrogant.

On the topic of divorce in Deuteronomy it is written in chapter 24:1-4.  It says that a man can divorce his wife for any reason at any time.  But it also says that if she remarries, he can never marry her again.  For some reason Jesus extends this to woman having the same rights.  I guess woman’s lib had progressed from Deuteronomy to Jesus’ time. 

Of course this is the famous section that is used in almost every marriage ceremony and used by bigots to attempt to stop civil rights (both of blacks and homosexuals) – read Mark 10:7-9.  This is where the concept of “traditional biblical marriage” comes from.  But of course this is not traditional OT biblical marriage were slave marriage, polygamy, and levirate marriage were acceptable to YHWH.

But Jesus finishes this lesson with the most powerful and damning commandment in the Christian faith:

Mark 10:10-12 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.  And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

I am repeating these verses verbatim because I know of no “Christian” faith that obeys this teaching.  To live in adultery cannot be forgiven each day…that would cancel this verse:

Romans 8:13-14 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

Living in the sin of adultery will kill you!  Jesus clearly states that remarriage is off the books.  But do christians follow this teaching of Jesus? It is an emphatic NO!  by ignoring this verse, christians ignore the teachings of Jesus and put their souls at risk.  You cannot be a part “christian”…it’s all or nothing!

I do love that by the time 1^st Corinthians was written by Paul around 55AD (22 years after Jesus taught about divorce) the rules were already changing.  Paul was already softening the teaching of Jesus in these verses 1^st Cor 7:12-16.  At least he admits that it is his saying and not the Jesus’:

1^st Cor 7:12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord); If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

But notice this is Paul’s opinion not Jesus’.  Jesus makes it quite clear that divorce is OK but remarriage is not.  This is traditional NT biblical marriage!  Man I wish the rabid “TrueChristians™” would get this straight!  They don’t want gays to marry, but they will allow divorce and remarriage!  What a bunch of hypocrites.  That is why it is so difficult for any Christians to debate with an Atheist…your own “brothers and sisters in faith” sabotage you.

Posted in Inerrancy - My Ass, Gospel of Mark, YHWH & slavery, Biblical Marriage, Readings | Print | 7 Comments »

June 12, 2010, 7:04 am by dc-agape.

Mark 9:14-32

The Word of God is inerrant and it says that the true cause of Grand Mal Epilepsy (Associated Content) is demon possession.  But it is a very special case of demon possession, only prayer will cure it!  This section of Mark starts when a man whose son has grand mal epilepsy comes to Jesus’ disciples.  An argument breaks out as Jesus returns from the mountain top.  His disciples haven’t quite got the hang of things yet and were not able to heal the man’s son.

Jesus immediately goes into a tirade:

Mark 9:19 “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me.”

I guess his human half was just weary.  How could a loving savior treat a man who has come to him for help so cruelly?  If the man was truly unbelieving he would not have come.  But Jesus is also grumpy with his disciples for not properly driving out the demon.  Jesus is obviously forgetting that it is YHWH who is to blame for their slow learning.  In the Gospel of Luke this is clearly pointed out (same story):

Luke 9:45 But they did not understand what this meant.  It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

The use of the word “hidden” means that someone has kept the meaning from them.  You can argue that it was Satan…but Jesus was right there and YHWH should have seen it too.  Neither Jesus nor YHWH clarified the issue for the disciples.  Oddly, the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus.  Here you can argue the pride issue, or let me present another scenario, maybe they really were afraid of Jesus’ response.  Twice now, in the Gospel of Mark (alone) Jesus has snapped at his disciples for YHWH making them slow to learn.  Isn’t it possible that Jesus was in the habit of berating his disciples, I have pointed out in other places that Jesus was not the loving savior that “Christian” want him to be.

But I wanted to go back to the Grand Mal seizures, how do we know the boy was cured.  So he stopped having a seizure….so what!  Some children (epilepsy.com) with grand mal seizures can go for long periods without repeat. It is also humorous that Hippocrates suggested that seizures might not be demon possession in 400BC.  But of course we know that demons cause seizures now, isn’t modern medical prayer wonderful!  Modern medical prayer will cure anything, you just have to have faith.

Posted in Inerrancy - My Ass, Gospel of Mark, Readings | Print | 9 Comments »