October 3, 2009, 11:47 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 17

Every once in a while a chapter in the Gospel of John is packed with amazing quotes from the teaching of Jesus.  In this particular chapter, even though Jesus is praying to YHWH, he brings up six important concepts that relate to being a true follower of Jesus.  Some of these concepts are: the meeting of eternal life, freewill (again!), prophecy, separation from the world, unity, and YHWH’s love.

The meaning of eternal life is described in Jesus’ opening to YHWH:

John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

It’s very interesting that to Jesus eternal life has nothing to do with what happens after death.  Eternal life, in Jesus’ description here, is entirely based on knowing spiritual knowledge.  It is true in other parts that Jesus describes an afterlife.  But here Jesus is describing the eternal life and knowledge is the main component of this concept.  This is very different from modern Christian theology on eternal life.  “Praying Jesus into your heart” that is not knowledge of Jesus or YHWH, it is something much more complex.  As a result would cannot “pray Jesus into your heart”, for that is obviously a Tradition of Man.  Any person who preaches this concept is a faults teacher at should not be listened to.  Even more TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching.

Jesus again focuses on freewill.  In this prayer he does not do it once, but numerous times:

John 17:2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

John 17:6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.  They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 

John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and two see my glory, the glory you get have given me because you love to be before the creation of the world.

Three different times in this chapter Jesus uses the phrase “those you have given me”.  This is not directed towards the apostles, nor the disciples of Jesus’ time, it is directed towards those who believe in him.  From this chapter, it is quite clear, that YHWH chooses who will believe.  As a result freewill does not exist!  How many times does Jesus have to repeat this concept before Christians understand it?  Freewill is a concept brought about by the Traditions of Men.  To make this very clear, and in the debate, search the New Testament for the word freewill.  Nowhere will you find a signal author mention the word “freewill”. TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching.

For another example of how freewill does not exist we only have to look at Judas Iscariot.  Jesus uses an obscure verse from the Old Testament to claim that Judas was fulfilling prophecy:

John 17:12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me.  None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled.

For the entire Christian religion is based on the fulfillment of scriptural prophecy.  Without Judas fulfilling this prophecy Christianity would not exist, for Jesus would not have died.  As a result, the false doctrine that Judas betrayed Jesus is in error.  It is a Tradition of Man.  Judas was forced, by prophecy, to act exactly the way he did.  He had no choice, as a result, he had no freewill.

Another important topic that Jesus brings up is being separate from the world.  He prays that the apostles, the disciples, and all believers will be “sanctified by the truth”.  This means that they are protected from the evil in the world.  Here again, Jesus is describing how Christians did not belong to the world.  The world should hate them for their message not their hypocrisy.  The world should hate them for worshiping YHWH, not the Traditions of Men.  The world should hate them for the love they have, not for the bigotry and hatred that they espouse. TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching.

One of my most important understandings of the bible and Jesus’ is teachings is the unity of YHWH, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Church.  It is something we certainly do not see today.  With 46,000 denominations you can certainly say that Christianity is diverse, but you certainly cannot saying that it is in unity.  Again the traditions of men have taught that this disunity is acceptable.  Again, TrueChirstians™ should be extremely vocal about the evils of this false teaching. 

The final thing I find interesting about this prayer is the relationship that slain YHWH’s love and humanity.  YHWH’s love is for Jesus not humanity…only by being one with Jesus does one receive YHWH’s love:

John 17:26 I have made you know the to them, and we’ll continue to make you know in order that their love you have for me maybe in them and that I myself maybe in them.

If the only way humanity can experience this “loving” relationship is through obeying Jesus’ teachings.  Otherwise, YHWH has no love for his creation.  Clearly, he only loves his son.  The concept of a loving YHWH is mistaken, just look at the Old Testament.  He may have protected the Israelites when they obeyed him, but more often than not be punished them harshly at every minor infraction.  That certainly is not love, it is not even fatherly love.  Now we know, that Yahweh his son not humanity.  Only by being a follower of Jesus will YHWH exhibit this “loving” personality.

To the unbeliever, this chapter is packed with proofs that Christianity has become a Tradition of Man. It is obvious that Christians do not obey (love) Jesus, instead they love the comfort, the security, and the traditions that they experience in the modern churches.  No wonder Christianity seems to be in its death throes.  But to remove the Traditions of Men from the words of Jesus may be impossible.  For even the canonization of the holy bible may be suspect.  When did traditions of men get introduced into the teachings of Christianity.  One thing we know for sure is that the world stopped hating Christians and even began aiding Christianity as early as 320 BC.  I say this because the Roman Empire began to spread Christianity across the node world instead of persecuting the believers of Jesus.  Yet some believers were still persecuted and these were the Gnostic Christians, who just happen to focus on Jesus’ teachings instead of the teachings of Paul

Posted in Gospel of John, Contradictions, Personal Responsibility, Traditions of Men, Readings | Print | 3 Comments »

September 28, 2009, 8:15 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 15 – 16:4

There are so many things that need to be said about this chapter.  Being fruitful, love and obedience, answered prayers, knowing Jesus’ purpose, the greatest love, being chosen, being hatred, hatred without reason, and killing in the name of YHWH.  This chapter is packed with good examples of what a follower of Jesus is supposed to do to the world, experience in the world, and display to the world.  But this chapter does one other thing…it makes it obvious to the non-believer that Christian ≠ follower of Jesus.  I will discuss each one, and let you decide.

Being fruitful is part of being a follower of Jesus.  This does not mean just the bringing of souls to YHWH!  It means living a godly life and having a virtuous character.  This does not mean sometimes being fruitful!  We think of seasonal fruiting plants and believe that bearing fruit can be sporadic, but this is not Jesus’ intent.  The “true vine” never goes dormant; it has the light of YHWH always making it grow.  Even the pruning is to make it have more virtue and more proof of a godly life.  Here is the first proof that non-believers have where Christians ≠ followers of Jesus.  In the modern world both “Christians” and non-believers both live virtuous lives.  I can say this because the word “virtue” is not linked to YHWH or even Christianity!  It is defined as living life in conformity to moral or ethical principles.  And YHWH does not have a strangle hold on ethic…it was perfectly fine to own slaves and to be polygamous in the OT, by Jesus’ time polygamy was out of fashion (unethical) yet slavery was still acceptable (ethical).  100 years ago it was unethical to marry inter-racially, but today we see that as common (and ethical) as treating each human as an equal.  Equality was certainly not ethical until the very most recent times, yet we still have issues with this concept!  So if ethics (virtue) change over the millennia, how exactly are we to tell who is a Christian?  We cannot unless they set themselves apart.  The only way Christians have set themselves apart from non-believers is to make false accusations against science, equality (slavery and equal rights), demanding constitutional amendments dictating their particular morality, and vandalizing of family planning clinics.  Are these truly godly life or virtuous character?  Worse is the cyclical nature of Christian’s virtue.  None become more virtuous with age!  No what the non-believer sees is that with age the skeletons in the closet are exposed, proving that the “spiritual” leaders are bogus.  The biggest sign of this is looking at the children of these leaders.  Billy Graham’s son Franklin Graham is a hatemonger, as was Jerry Falwell son Jonathan, and Pat Robertson (Timothy Brian).  Are these truly “godly”, are the actions of these men virtuous (both the father and the son)?  The biggest skeleton in each of these fathers’ closet is what the son does!  For it is from the parents that the child learns hatred and corruption.  Isn’t it always said that being the preacher’s kid is the worst, they even have a name for it Preacher’s Kid Syndrome?  If a preacher cannot bring their own child up to exemplify Jesus, that is one huge skeleton in the closet.

The Gospel of John returns to the concept of love and obedience being linked.  One cannot love Jesus without obey his teachings.  Not the teachings of Paul, Luther, John Smith, or John Calvin.  One must follow and obey the actually teachings of Jesus to love Jesus.  Yet only 66.6% of the NT does not deal with the teachings of Jesus.  Where is the focus on the important teachings that the followers of Jesus must obey?  Why have they been superseded by the teachings of Paul?  How can one obey and love Jesus when so little of his teachings remain?  Only two documents (the Gospels of Matthew or Mark and John) remain of the closest thing we have to the teaching of Jesus.  Even the Book of Acts is suspect, it was most likely written by a follower of Paul!  What happened to the documents that were written by the actually followers of Jesus?  Why were they not canonized?  What teachings did they invoke that the Orthodox Church found inappropriate?  Jesus had many disciples (more than the twelve) shouldn’t we have more copies of what the individual disciples had to say?  With the overwhelming focus on the teachings of Paul verse the teaching of Jesus, does not the NT come under a cloud of questionability?  Did none of the original disciples make records of their gnosis, their logos from Jesus?  Why did the followers of these men not record the sermons these men taught?  Or did these recording get written, but the Orthodox Church deemed them unacceptable?  Could the Christianity that “won” actually be a false teaching of Jesus?  It certainly is not based on obey Jesus; instead it is based on obeying men…especially Paul.  With so little of the Christian doctrine based directly on Jesus teachings one must wonder.  The Beatitudes are held as models to aspire to, instead of ways to actually live life.  But shouldn’t they be obeyed (not just used as an unreachable goal) if one loves Jesus?  As I have said before, Atheist do not hate YHWH nor Christians because of the hard teachings…no it is because of the hypocrisy in the lives of Christians that Atheist despise.  And the lame excuse of “we are only sinful human” does not cut it.  Being “born of the Spirit” and “guided by the Spirit” and “born of God” and this one specifically:

1^st John 3:9-10 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.  This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This verse puts to death the lame excuse of we continue to sin after “loving Jesus”.  If you follow Jesus you no longer sin!  And if you claim to be a Christian and you continue to sin, you make this verse a lie.  By making this verse a lie, you invalidate the entire Bible…since this is the Word of God.  Loving Jesus means obeying Jesus, it also means living a righteous life without sin.  Otherwise, you make a mockery of the teachings of Jesus and will not be pruned, you will be thrown away to be burned.  Get it right “Christians” is all I can have to say!

Well since I have at least seven more topics from this chapter, this might go on for some time.  By far, the Gospel of John has got to be the most important source of the teachings of Jesus.  The Synoptic Gospels were written to collaborate with each other.  The Gospel of John was written to teach Jesus’ followers how to love and obey Jesus.

Posted in Love, Gospel of John, Personal Responsibility, Readings | Print | 17 Comments »

September 24, 2009, 8:47 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 13

I am not sure how far I will get in this chapter.  Three major topics are repeated here: service, love, and betrayal.   In hindsight John writing this Gospel sees the importance of love in the message of Jesus.  He shows an example of love and the commandment of love that Jesus gives his disciples.  In the example of love service plays a part.  Since they are interconnected, one cannot have one without the other.  Jesus also shows two predictions (again written in hindsight).  The first is Judas’ betrayal of Jesus to the Jewish leaders.  The second is Peter’s own betrayal of Jesus.  If Jesus knew in the future betrayal of these two men…they had no freewill.  To know something will happen is better than predicting; it indicates that something is planned.

The dialog between Jesus and his disciples (notice that John does not use the word Apostles) and especially Peter shows how important service to others is to being Christian.  But not just any type of service, Jesus made it clear that it should be of the most humble and menial form.  Yet somehow Christians have completely forgotten this most important teaching of Jesus.  They neither serve each other (showing love to those that love them) nor do they serve the non-believer, so that we know that they are disciples of Jesus.  In fact, it is the exact opposite today!  Christians attempt to take the highest position possible…that of governance.  Governance is neither menial nor humble; it is the most important form of work here on earth.  Without governance nations would crumble, bloodshed would be rampant, and humanity would never have crawled up from subsistence living allowing for science, arts, and technology.  But when religion attempts to govern we see things like the Inquisition, the Dark Ages, the subjugation of women, and even intolerance of minorities.  (And before any one might claim that Hitler was an atheist please read mein kampf and his speeches – where the Bible and Christianity are cited over 75 times).

But Jesus teaches love is the most important action that Christians can take.  This form of love has two effects.  As I just mentioned it means doing the most humble and menial of tasks for others (not just other Christians – see Matt 5:46-48) but also this love will be felt by others and will prove a person is truly a follower of Jesus.  Christians today, who demand new laws be written to punish/subjugate minorities (taking rights away from homosexuals), who vocally call for bloodshed of innocents (war against the Middle East), and demand government money be spent on religious symbols – instead of taking care of the poor, are truly showing the non-believer that Christianity has failed to follow the example of Jesus.  In fact, even wasting money on attempting to get science to be watered down with Creation “Science” in the classroom is just another form of this lack of love.  Should not Christian’s time, effort, and money be going to loving their neighbor by helping the poor, the orphan, and the widow?  Instead we (the USA) have the super right wing conservative fiscal party (the Republicans) gathered with the super right wing religious!  The “godless” Democrats are the one actually showing love to the poor!  What complete irony.

Jesus does on other thing in this chapter.  He prophesied the betrayal of two of his disciples.  The concept that Judas was a disciple is rather complicated to explain to those who believe that Judas was the Betrayer, but let me just point to a few verses (Matt 10:12, Matt 26:14, Mark 3:19, Mark 14:10, Mark 14:43, Luke 16:6  – he is named as one of the Apostle).  But more important is that Jesus knows that someone (from his inner ranks) must betray him – Matt 26:24, Mark 14:21, Luke 22:22).  In fact this verse is worth noting:

John 13:27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.  “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.

Jesus knew that Judas not only was going to betray him, but that Judas had to betray him.  There was no freewill in this action.  Remember if Jesus had not been betrayed the crucifixion would never have taken place!  Judas may have done the most important act that any Christian could perform, preparing the events that lead to religion known as Christianity.

But Jesus did not stop there.  He also prophesied that Peter would deny him three times within the following 12 hours.  Again, freewill is removed from Peter at this point.  For Jesus to know in advance that Peter would deny knowing Jesus can only have occurred if Peter did not have freewill.  In both of these cases, both Judas’ and Peter’s, we are shown that humanity is completely helpless in making freewill choices.  We are forced to take the actions that are required to fulfill YHWH’s plans for each one of us. 

This realization leads to troubling outcomes.  The divided Church would indicate that YHWH plans to send billions to hell.  Not only the ones that “choose” to sin (the non-believer) but also the ones who have been taught by the Traditions of Men that they are saved!  But with this being the case, then YHWH is not a loving supreme being.  He has planned the suffering of untold billions (if not trillion and quadrillions) in hell.  Worse is that it is a hell of his own creation!  So now we have a vicious circle…how can a loving god allow so many to go to a hell he created without allowing them to chose?  But we know that untold millions had no choice, prior to the conquest of the European Christians during the 15^th and 16^th centuries (at least 1400 years after Jesus died) only a small fraction of the world’s population even knew the story of Jesus.  At that time the population of Japan was 1,800,000 people, the population of China was well above 100,000,000 people, the population of India was 35 million people, in North America the population was as much between 8 and 112 million people, and that does not include Australia, South and Central America, Africa, or the Pacific Ocean nations.  To say the least estimates put the total population of the world at the beginning of the 16^th century  435,000,000 people.  It is quite obvious that these people did not have freewill to chose to worship YHWH!  What a loving YHWH, allowing nearly 300,000,000 million people to go to hell because he allowed them to be born in countries that had not heard the Word of God!  And that was only the beginning of 15^th century…hell certainly will be a crowded place with many innocent people sent there without freewill.  We can only hope that the Mormon’s are right and Jesus was sent to the Americas!  Otherwise, YHWH is a cruel and unworthy being to worship.

Posted in Gospel of John, Contradictions, Personal Responsibility, Freewill | Print | 1 Comment »

September 7, 2009, 6:43 am by dc-agape.

Last week I ask some tough questions to one of my Christian commenters.  I had a reason for each of the questions.  I have posted why the first question:

How do True Christians respond to the desire of homosexuals to have the same legal rights as heterosexuals to marry the person they love?  Specifically I asked how my commenter responded to the approval of California Prop #8.

In response I have received two replies that need to be addressed:

Please explain compassion and justice from a materialistic world view.

I am not clear how the issue of Gay Marriage relates to your understanding the teachings of the Bible though.

It would seem that our True Christian is not clear on the concepts of compassion or justice even while living in the USA.  It would also appear that our True Christian does not understand that to be “Christ-like” one must show compassion and act in a just manner towards one’s fellow human.  Let me see if I can clear up some of the confusion.

Dictionary.com makes answering the first part of the first request very simple.  The definition of the English word “Compassion” is:

A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering

Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it

It would seem that our Christian does not understand that one must not only claim to have compassion, but that one must also wish to relieve it!  The “stricken by misfortune” can certainly be a disqualifier to the subject of Gay Marriage until you combine justice with compassion.  Even thought the second definition “a deep awareness of the suffering of another” is clear enough to show that by banning/protesting Gay Marriage the Christians, who do this, are not showing a deep awareness of the suffering of others.  In fact, they are not even aware of the suffering that they are inflicting on other citizens in their own country.

But to truly understand that the Gay Marriage protest is causing suffering and striking the homosexual community with misfortune one must include the concept of justice and having a just attitude.  Using dictionary.com two of the meanings of the English word noun “Justice” are appropriate for the “materialistic world view”:

These are the “top” definitions of the English adjective “just”!  Notice the words justice, fairness, equitable, and lawful.  Dictionary.com has two definitions of the word justice that are in direct relation to this topic:

Conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment

The maintenance or administration of what is just by law, as by judicial or other proceedings

These are not the “top” definitions of the English noun “Justice”; they are definitions of the word.  In my original post I described what was just by law: equality of all citizens in the USA.  The denial of equal rights to marry the person one loves is in the United States a fundamental denial of the right to pursue happiness.

I must admit that the concepts of compassion and justice are difficult to comprehend, especially to one that already receives both with abundance.  Of course that is what makes it difficult for one who claims to be compassionate and just to “forget” how to be exactly that: compassionate and just!  Since they receive it without thinking about it they “forget” that other people do not have the same experiences in life.  In fact, the people who deny compassion and justice to the gay community, here in the USA, are lulled into believing that everyone receives the same treatment that they themselves receive.  They are being taking their own freedoms for granted.

I think that I have hinted at the controversy of Gay Marriage and the teaching of the Bible.  Maybe I have not been clear enough.  If Christians are to be “Christ-like” does that not mean that they should show compassion and justice as Jesus did in the Gospels.  One thing that is missing from the Gospel is the concept that the “sinner” should be treated as less valuable, less human than the righteous believer.  In fact, the exact opposite is the case.  Jesus turned water into wine for a wedding festival – John 2:1-11 (gluttony), Jesus ate with the tax collectors and the prostitutes (greed and sexual amorality), and Jesus even taught in the Beatitudes:

Matt 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”. 

And further in Jesus’ ministry Jesus tells his followers this:Matt 22:37-40 Jesus replied. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

To love your neighbor but to deny them the same right that you take for granted is a hypocrisy.  How can you love your neighbor “as yourself” yet demand that your neighbor cannot have the same rights as you!  So from a Biblical stand point and a “materialist” stand point there is no difference. 

It is true that some Christians believe that all homosexuals will go to hell…how “loving”.  But should not Christians have the decency to show mercy, compassion, justice, and love to the “sinner” while we are here on Earth?

Posted in Important Questions, Love, Personal Responsibility, State of Mind, Introduction | Print | 13 Comments »

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 27, 2009, 7:18 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 8:11 – 8:41

This chapter is a difficult one to break into smaller sections.  The entire passage is one sermon from Jesus.  There are breaks but they do not lend to separate posts very well.  To begin with Jesus is speaking to a larger crowd; he then spoke directly to Jews that believed him.  It is this section that is the most telling.  Jesus addresses the concept of being a son to YHWH and a son to the devil.  Jesus closes this sermon with more about himself.

In the opening of this passage, Jesus seems to be have been speaking to a large group of people.  He promises that he is the “light of the world”.  We know that he did not mean the literal light from the sun.  This was purely figurative, or if you wish spiritual.  We know this because all of his followers still had to deal with the darkness of night; he also used words like “light of life”.  But he made a bold claim:

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Notice that he did not say “Those who believe in me”, no, he said those who follow him!  This is a significant point that many modern Christians do not recognize.  Following Jesus is much more difficult than just believing in him. 

Jesus continued this opening claiming that sense he had YHWH on his side he actually had two witnesses (himself and YHWH).  I would truly love to see someone call YHWH to the witness stand!  So no, in a purely legalistic stance this does not hold water. 

Without doubt, Jesus’ life was predestined.  Even he knew what was going to happen to him.  Yet for some reason Christians then believe that the people surrounding Jesus still had freewill.  How can this be?  If someone had to betray Jesus for the crucifixion to take place, if a group of people had to order this crucifixion, if Pilot had to approve this crucifixion, and if Jesus had to raise on the third day, how do any of these people have freewill?  So, at least, when it counts YHWH does take freewill for humanity.

Jesus continues with a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo.  Most of it was judging the Jews that were listening to him.  Kinda an odd way to win souls, speak harshly to them, when they were interested in what he had to say.  Yes, they questioned him, but he made it clear that they did not understand him because they were not from YHWH.  He even goes so far as to clarify this dilemma:

John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, the one I claim to be, and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

So not only can they not understand him due to their lowly births (on earth), but because they cannot understand him until his crucifixion!

Later he spoke directly to:

John 8:31-32 to the Jews that believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teachings, you are my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

At this very verse Jesus tells people that believe him that belief is not enough.  To be disciples of Jesus one must hold to his teachings.  Paul uses similar language in his ministry:

1^st Cor 15:1-2 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.  Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

Both men indicate that belief can be useless.  A specific action must follow belief – holding to the teachings of Jesus.  This is an important distinction!  One that is so easily mislead by the masses of Christendom.  But this exact passage (both Jesus’ and Paul’s) show why we have 45,000 denominations of Christians instead of just one!  Only one can be holding to the teachings of Jesus.  But which one is holding to the teachings of Jesus?  In that regard, Jesus may be the light of the world and his followers may have the light, but the rest of us (non-believers) are stuck with 45,000 possible (yes I do mean possible) correct doctrine. 

To the Atheist (and I am sure the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu as well) it is truly by your actions that we will know that anyone is a follower of Jesus.  The problem is…we see nothing different from those claiming to be Christians and those claiming to be Jews, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or Atheist.  Christians…you do not stand out!  Nothing proves that you are “the light of the world”.  Nothing proves that the world hates you!  In fact, the world may despise you, but that is because of the hypocrisy that we see, not because the message you bring is difficult or painful to us.

Posted in Gospel of John, Personal Responsibility, Disciples, Freewill, Readings | Print | 22 Comments »

August 8, 2009, 1:51 pm by dc-agape.

Exodus 32 – 33:6

Moses spent 40 days in the presence of YHWH, receiving the instructions for the Tent of Meeting.  During this time the Israelites quickly forgot all the “miracles” that YHWH performed to get them out of Egypt and all the events that took place during the three months to make their way to Mount Sinai.  Even when presented with “miracles” these people did not believe/trust in YHWH.  That would certainly explain why YHWH doesn’t bother with miracles today!  Why bother, when people who saw the miracles were unaffected by them.

When YHWH had finished detailing his Tent of Meeting he instructed Moses to go down to the Israelites.  In fact, it was a direct commandment from YHWH to leave.  But Moses disobeyed YHWH, instead he argued with YHWH.  He used a guilt trip on YHWH to save the Israelites.  Moses had to remind YHWH of the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.  Moses also had to remind YHWH of the acts that were preformed in Egypt.  Finally, Moses pushed the ultimate button on YHWH:  “what will the Egyptians think of you if you kill the Israelites?”  For a supernatural being of ultimate power YHWH sure is concerned with what sinful people think of him, because this trick worked. 

Here the study guide to the NIV makes a simple mistake.  The Word of God clearly states that Joshua goes with Moses up to see YHWH (Exodus 24:23).  But in the study notes for Exodus 32:17 claims that Joshua did not enter the presence of YHWH.  Yet nowhere in the Word of God does it indicate that Joshua did not follow Moses.  And it is certain that Joshua did not go down to the Israelite camp, because Moses never interceded with YHWH on Joshua’s account (as he did for Aaron).

The situation of the Golden Calf brings up a number of issues.  Didn’t YHWH know this was going to happen before it occurred?  He is supposed to be all-knowing.  But more importantly, why did he get angry, if he knew it was going to happen?  Or does he not know the future?  Not knowing the final outcome would explain the anger and the remorse.  Knowing the future would eliminate any reason for becoming angry.  But by explaining this away as freewill (of the Israelites) would mean that YHWH does not know what we will do, so he is not all-knowing.   It also indicates that YHWH showing himself to modern humans would not negate our freewill.  From the Atheist perspective, this one incident removes the issue of freewill, an all-knowing supernatural being, and the absence of YHWH’s presence in modern times.

Also, why did Aaron make the Golden Calf?  Why did Aaron lie to Moses?  And why did YHWH choice Aaron to be the High Priest, knowing that Aaron would make the Golden Calf?  Further, why would Moses have to intercede on Aaron’s behalf in Deut 9:20, if YHWH had already decided that Aaron was going to be the High Priest?  Many questions are left unanswered and all of them deal with YHWH perceived omniscience and human freewill.

Another issue that the Golden Calf presents is Moses’ actions.  First, he directly disobeys YHWH command to leave Mount Sinai.  Second, he actually argues with YHWH.  Modern Tradition of Men indicates that both of these actions would result in instant wrath from YHWH.  In fact, what we see today is people claiming that YHWH will bring wrath down on those who disagree with him, but no one who is standing up to YHWH.  Third, Moses does something that YHWH did not prearrange.  When Moses reached the Israelite camp (knowing that the Golden Calf existed), he ordered the Levites to murder 3,000 people.  YHWH did not communicate this to Moses; Moses chose this action on his own yet then claimed that it was an order from YHWH:

Exodus 32:27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side.  Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’

YHWH did not tell Moses this!  Moses choice this option from his own anger!  Is this any different than the psychopaths today that claim “YHWH told me to kill!”?  Was Moses a charismatic psychopath in charge of the Israelites?

The story of the Golden Calf ends with Moses making peace with YHWH.  But YHWH left the Israelites to their own devices.  YHWH still promised to drive the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites from the Promised Land.  Yet in the Book of Ezra (440BC) these tribes were still influencing the Israelites.  YHWH did not fulfill his promise to drive these people out of the Promised Land with an angel before the Israelites.  And this verse clearly says that this was YHWH’s promise to Moses:

Exodus 33:2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

So to end this post we have seen how one story about a Golden Calf has destroyed many Traditions of Men that exist today in Christianity.  Lying is acceptable behavior (Aaron), back talking to YHWH is approved (Moses), pretending that YHWH ordered something is OK (Moses), miracles do not eliminate freewill (the Israelites), YHWH does not know the future (YHWH’s anger), and YHWH does not fulfill his promises (the angel).  I am sure that I missed some extra opportunities to point out some more Traditions of Men that are not factual, but I think I have given you a taste.

Posted in Exodus, Contradictions, Personal Responsibility, Traditions of Men, Freewill, Readings | Print | 2 Comments »

August 3, 2009, 3:12 pm by dc-agape.

But two things make this event unique.

And I know that many people will say that it is due the bad economy.  I will start by disagreeing with that hypothesis.  A friend of my graduated from the same school in the early 90’s and had the same problem (three times).  The two things that make this unique are: this is the Bible Belt and how stupid they did it. 

I mention the Bible Belt of the United States because to Christians the morality of the US is centered here in the south.  I had my convertible for 3 years in Philadelphia (top ranked most dangerous place to live in the US) and never had a break-in.  Recently I have also experience the first time a waitress has stolen my credit card number…again here in the good old Bible Belt.  I find both these extremely ironic.  I have lived in the hedonistic states of Hawaii and Massachusetts.  The three last states I lived in were considered pits of iniquity by the Christobots.  Hawaii is despised because of the extreme liberal government and the open acceptance of all peoples, no matter what lifestyle or nationality.  Massachusetts is also despised for similar reasons, but additionally because they have approved gay marriage.  Philadelphia is because it is the reason that Pennsylvania is actually a Democratic Party state.  Without the Philadelphia and Pittsburg the rest of the state is purely Republican.  Yet, it is here in the South, where Protestant Christianity reigns supreme, that I have experienced the most crime…and I make the least amount of money!

But the other thing that makes both these incidents ironic is how they were carried out.   The idiot that attempted to break into my car cut the canvas at the back of the car.  The large hole they made is too small to take anything out of my car and it is too far from the locking mechanism to open the door!  So what do my illustrious criminals do?  They attempt to start again closer to the front of the car, but alas they are stopped (for some unknown reason) after just puncturing the canvas.  The waitress is even more stupid, if that is possible.  She stole the credit cards from everyone at the table!  Too make things even worse, she purchased items from the internet and they were delivered to our houses….When all of began to receive things that we did not order we were quickly able to add it up and figure out who and where this identity thief worked! 

In closing, the Bible Belt may be more religious but surely does not have higher moral standards.  In fact, I have a strong feeling that due to the larger number of people who claim to be Christians many young adults rebel.  Unlike inner cities where these rebels meet people you teach them how to actually commit crimes; here in the South criminals are incompetent.  In one way this is a good thing, the damage done is minimal.  But in another way it shows that by suppressing inner feelings (sins) more petty crimes are committed.  In the end, both the victim and the criminal pay just as high a price.

Why do I make this claim?

Because in both cases the police did nothing!  In fact, in the case of the car vandalization, there is a “hot-line” to report the crime.  A report is written and nothing else occurs.  The criminal is not brought to justice (and will continue to damage other people’s property) and the victim must pay for the repairs or have their insurance pay (which increase the cost of insurance for everyone).  In the case of the waitress, she did get fired.  But that does not mean that she will not get another job and do the same thing…she does not have a “record”.  In fact, her next employer will most likely never know that she has been (and will most likely repeat) an identity thief.  Who knows how many people she will scam before something stops her.

Posted in The Usual Suspects, Personal Responsibility, State of Mind | Print | 3 Comments »