Recently my older brother had some sort of domestic dispute with his wife and ended up getting beat up by his step daughters boy friend. In the end he ended up going to jail that night and was charged with 3rd degree assault and disorderly conduct. He is a fundamentalist Pentecostal and the true definition of ignorant fanatic. He like myself in the past is a member of an hispanic church who tend to take christian beliefs to the extreme.
These people seem to be living in the dark ages still and tend to see the influence of Satan in everything and everywhere. They are also what I like to call miracle mongers, they tend to gravitate towards people that can make them "feel" the presence of God or the Holy Spirit. If you demonstrate that you can heal the sick with a touch, cast out demons, prophesy,etc. then you will be highly successful and sought after.
The problem with this is that it tends to promote gullibility, and makes them easy marks for con artists and scammers. Another negative aspect of this sort of belief is that it also fosters hypocrisy and lack of responsibility for ones own actions. My sister is also a member of the same type of Pentecostalism and has been for about 10 years. She claims to receive messages from the Lord and to be guided in her life by his Spirit.
If you would look up the definition for hypocrite in the dictionary you would probably see a picture of my sister. She can talk about holiness and dedication to God etc. but her life does not reflect her beliefs. This is a woman who abandoned all of her kids who are now all grown, discarded her entire family for some female member of the church whom she refers to as her "spiritual mom." Meanwhile her real mom has not heard from her much and she has neglected her as well. She is a glutton, and a poor excuse for a human being. Her own children despise her and now that she needs help from her family again she has returned to find that none of us give a shit about her and are unwilling to help her in any way.
Before she left and gave her life to the Lord she came upon a million dollar settlement for losing her husband to carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment they shared. She was in a coma for about a week, but when she got her money she moved to the Dominican Republic with her "spiritual mom" and has not been heard from till recently. She has called my house several times and spoken to my wife but I refuse to speak to her. I let her know through my wife that I don't have time for hypocrisy and that I hate hypocrites.
My brother on the other hand told me today that he drank a few wine coolers and lost his head. He then went on about how if you give the devil a chance he would devour you up. I told him the devil did not shove the bottle down your throat that choice you made all on your own. He attributed his latest arrest to Satan's meddling and refuses to take full responsibility for his actions and the consequences that followed.
This is the sort of Christianity that makes me sick to my stomach, but at least I let my family know where I stand. Everyone that knows me knows that I am an atheist and I am very outspoken about my unbelief and my reasons for being this way. Comparing my life now to the way it was when I was a theist I would have to say that I am good without God.
I guess I am just ranting, so if this bothers any of my readers I apologize and hope that you will keep checking back to my blog for more informative information about my experiences as a former fundie and Christian hypocrite lol. Sorry, I had to throw that in there. I hate hypocrisy.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Ten reasons why the Bible is not the word of God (updated)
1. The bible was written and created from the fertile imagination of man. Whether you choose to believe that it was “inspired” by God is a matter of faith entirely and not fact.
2. There are no firsthand accounts of the life of Jesus in the entire New Testament.
3. The earliest gospel (Mark) was not written till about 40 years after the alleged death of Jesus.
4. Many of the sayings of Jesus in Mark are supposedly copied from a hypothetical document called Q which has not been found. The existence of Q is nothing more than speculation.
5. The authors of the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke and of the gospel of John were unknown and the names attached to these gospels did not appear till late in the second century. This was done in order to add authenticity to the work in keeping with the apostolic tradition which required that in order for a work to be considered inspired it had to have been written by an apostle or one of his followers.
6. Many of the so called historical accounts of events in the scriptures could not be corroborated with actual evidence outside of the scriptures themselves.
7. There are no extant (existing) copies of the original gospels, what we currently have are copies of copies that have been substantially edited by numerous scribes and the Church itself.
8. All the books of the bible were voted upon as inspired or uninspired by the clergy and bishops through several councils. Just another part of the editing process.
9. The bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. This leaves plenty of room for human error in transcribing ancient languages to modern day speech. It is difficult even today to translate from one modern language into another accurately and still be able to maintain the authenticity of the message. Imagine what it’s like to do it with ancient languages that have changed or evolved over time.
10. The abundance of embellished stories that mix superstition with facts make it impossible to accept these stories as authentic or trustworthy.
2. There are no firsthand accounts of the life of Jesus in the entire New Testament.
3. The earliest gospel (Mark) was not written till about 40 years after the alleged death of Jesus.
4. Many of the sayings of Jesus in Mark are supposedly copied from a hypothetical document called Q which has not been found. The existence of Q is nothing more than speculation.
5. The authors of the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke and of the gospel of John were unknown and the names attached to these gospels did not appear till late in the second century. This was done in order to add authenticity to the work in keeping with the apostolic tradition which required that in order for a work to be considered inspired it had to have been written by an apostle or one of his followers.
6. Many of the so called historical accounts of events in the scriptures could not be corroborated with actual evidence outside of the scriptures themselves.
7. There are no extant (existing) copies of the original gospels, what we currently have are copies of copies that have been substantially edited by numerous scribes and the Church itself.
8. All the books of the bible were voted upon as inspired or uninspired by the clergy and bishops through several councils. Just another part of the editing process.
9. The bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. This leaves plenty of room for human error in transcribing ancient languages to modern day speech. It is difficult even today to translate from one modern language into another accurately and still be able to maintain the authenticity of the message. Imagine what it’s like to do it with ancient languages that have changed or evolved over time.
10. The abundance of embellished stories that mix superstition with facts make it impossible to accept these stories as authentic or trustworthy.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Religion: A profitable business
Recently I received an email from an investment company out of the UK asking if I would be interested in sharing an article that they put together regarding an investigation that they have conducted on the financial gains of religious institutions. Of course after having read the article I thought it would be nice to share it with my readers as well.
The article takes a look at Scientology, Catholicism, Televangelism, Freemasonry, and The Church of England. It tops this all off with a short list of religious billionaires. When required it gives you a short history of the religious movement being examined, and then it goes into their reported earnings and scandals related to those earnings. They also provide hyperlinks within the text that will take you to their sources if you want to obtain a little bit more in depth information.
The following is an excerpt:
Established in 1952 as a successor to dianetics, the Church of Scientology has always been a controversial entity. It has been criticised for taking money from vulnerable people, and reports of suicide and financial ruin caused by the extortionate fees incured as a Thetan are not unheard of. Rumour of harassment and covert surveillance of its followers are also rife.
Scientology
Number of followers: The Church of Scientology claims to have over 8 million followers worldwide and 3.5 million in the United States alone, but a 2008 survey showed that just 20,000 American individuals identified themselves as Scientologists.
Read more: http://www.money.co.uk/misc/the-business-of-religion.htm#ixzz1UmO3RuB9
Feel free to post your comments on this article and as always this topic is open to discussion from atheists and theists alike.
The article takes a look at Scientology, Catholicism, Televangelism, Freemasonry, and The Church of England. It tops this all off with a short list of religious billionaires. When required it gives you a short history of the religious movement being examined, and then it goes into their reported earnings and scandals related to those earnings. They also provide hyperlinks within the text that will take you to their sources if you want to obtain a little bit more in depth information.
The following is an excerpt:
Established in 1952 as a successor to dianetics, the Church of Scientology has always been a controversial entity. It has been criticised for taking money from vulnerable people, and reports of suicide and financial ruin caused by the extortionate fees incured as a Thetan are not unheard of. Rumour of harassment and covert surveillance of its followers are also rife.
Scientology
Number of followers: The Church of Scientology claims to have over 8 million followers worldwide and 3.5 million in the United States alone, but a 2008 survey showed that just 20,000 American individuals identified themselves as Scientologists.
Read more: http://www.money.co.uk/misc/the-business-of-religion.htm#ixzz1UmO3RuB9
Feel free to post your comments on this article and as always this topic is open to discussion from atheists and theists alike.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Christian greed and hypocrisy
‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.’
Those are the exact words as presented in the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment. It gives everyone the freedom to practice their religion, not specifically Christianity; but any religion. It also gives everyone the right to practice freedom of speech and the right to assemble peaceably.
This is all well and good and I am in complete agreement with this amendment, but contrary to what many think, Christians don’t see this in the same light as the rest of us. They want the right to preach, teach, and practice their beliefs but they refuse anyone who opposes their views those same rights. Christians want to have their cake and eat it too.
Just like their predecessors the so called church fathers and the Roman Catholic Church who instituted the bloody inquisitions, today’s theists demonstrate the same hatred for freedom of thought and speech. Just like their predecessors they seek to silence those that expose the myths, lies, and folktales behind their beliefs.
They want the rest of the world to accept and respect their myths yet they refuse to do the same with all other religious or non-religious groups. They claim absolute truth based on faith in ancient works composed over two thousand years ago mostly written by anonymous authors. These works are comprised of folklore, ancient myths, and oral tradition and have no supporting evidence whatsoever.
They want the state to stay out of their affairs but like their ancestors they want to tell the state what to do and how to run this country. Being a majority group here in the states they manipulate politicians and through them influence politics and legislation. They want to impose their so called divine morality on the rest of mankind.
The methods may have changed but the goal remains the same, world domination. The church would love to make the U.S. a theocracy although we have already tried that and seen where it has gotten us. The inquisitions, witch hunts and many persecutions suffered at the hands of the Church should be enough to warn us of the horrors of giving the Church the power of the state. It has done nothing but hold back the progress of science, knowledge has been curtailed in the name of religion.
It is time that we put religion in its place and not let it influence our private lives and affairs. I am all for freedom of religion but those same freedoms that they claim should be available to everyone regardless of what your beliefs may be. As an atheist I cannot accept the Bible as the inspired word of any god. Nor can I let it be used as a means to regulate my life and dictate to me what is “moral” or not. Freedom of religion or lack thereof is a two way street and it should never be compromised for any reason.
Whether I believe in the biblical god or not should not be a criterion for me to swear in a court of law, run for a position in public office, obtain a job, or to judge whether I am a moral person. I should be able to stand on my own merits as a citizen in good standing with the state in which I reside. I should not have to endure being discriminated against or called crazy, immoral, or untrustworthy simply because I refuse to accept a belief in god.
The U.S. implies a separation of church and state in its Constitution but yet we have the words ‘In God we trust’ on our currency and in our court rooms. We have state holidays that are based on religious high days. We have bans on scientific research based not on morality but on religious beliefs about morality. Laws prohibiting same sex marriages; claiming that marriage is a sacred institution, but this sacredness comes from what the church believes not from secular beliefs. In this hypocritical country the state has always been in bed with its whore the church, and as distasteful as this may be I don’t see that bond dissolving anytime soon.
Those are the exact words as presented in the U.S. Constitution’s first amendment. It gives everyone the freedom to practice their religion, not specifically Christianity; but any religion. It also gives everyone the right to practice freedom of speech and the right to assemble peaceably.
This is all well and good and I am in complete agreement with this amendment, but contrary to what many think, Christians don’t see this in the same light as the rest of us. They want the right to preach, teach, and practice their beliefs but they refuse anyone who opposes their views those same rights. Christians want to have their cake and eat it too.
Just like their predecessors the so called church fathers and the Roman Catholic Church who instituted the bloody inquisitions, today’s theists demonstrate the same hatred for freedom of thought and speech. Just like their predecessors they seek to silence those that expose the myths, lies, and folktales behind their beliefs.
They want the rest of the world to accept and respect their myths yet they refuse to do the same with all other religious or non-religious groups. They claim absolute truth based on faith in ancient works composed over two thousand years ago mostly written by anonymous authors. These works are comprised of folklore, ancient myths, and oral tradition and have no supporting evidence whatsoever.
They want the state to stay out of their affairs but like their ancestors they want to tell the state what to do and how to run this country. Being a majority group here in the states they manipulate politicians and through them influence politics and legislation. They want to impose their so called divine morality on the rest of mankind.
The methods may have changed but the goal remains the same, world domination. The church would love to make the U.S. a theocracy although we have already tried that and seen where it has gotten us. The inquisitions, witch hunts and many persecutions suffered at the hands of the Church should be enough to warn us of the horrors of giving the Church the power of the state. It has done nothing but hold back the progress of science, knowledge has been curtailed in the name of religion.
It is time that we put religion in its place and not let it influence our private lives and affairs. I am all for freedom of religion but those same freedoms that they claim should be available to everyone regardless of what your beliefs may be. As an atheist I cannot accept the Bible as the inspired word of any god. Nor can I let it be used as a means to regulate my life and dictate to me what is “moral” or not. Freedom of religion or lack thereof is a two way street and it should never be compromised for any reason.
Whether I believe in the biblical god or not should not be a criterion for me to swear in a court of law, run for a position in public office, obtain a job, or to judge whether I am a moral person. I should be able to stand on my own merits as a citizen in good standing with the state in which I reside. I should not have to endure being discriminated against or called crazy, immoral, or untrustworthy simply because I refuse to accept a belief in god.
The U.S. implies a separation of church and state in its Constitution but yet we have the words ‘In God we trust’ on our currency and in our court rooms. We have state holidays that are based on religious high days. We have bans on scientific research based not on morality but on religious beliefs about morality. Laws prohibiting same sex marriages; claiming that marriage is a sacred institution, but this sacredness comes from what the church believes not from secular beliefs. In this hypocritical country the state has always been in bed with its whore the church, and as distasteful as this may be I don’t see that bond dissolving anytime soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)