Check your brain at the door

According to the scriptures faith is a virtue while the quest for knowledge is looked upon with disdain. The New Testament book of  Hebrews extolls the virtues of faith in chapter 11 and goes as far as saying : ⁶ 'Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.'

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as: ¹ 'Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen.' According to the scriptures, contrary to reason, we must accept its claims without a prerequisite of evidence. Faith is basically hope in the unknown or the unseen, and what are we supposed to base this hope on? a 2000+ year old collection of writings by a group of for the most part unknown authors.

The first sin according to Genesis that mankind committed against God was that of disobedience. Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (sounds mythical to me). It is interesting to note that this particular tree would open up the eyes of the first couple and make them aware of many things about the world that in their ignorant state would have otherwise remained unknown. This suggests to me that God's original intention was that man remain subservient to him for all eternity.

If you read the story though, you will realize that curiosity brought on by Satan eventually got the best of Eve and Adam followed suit. From the beginning knowledge was a curse, a condemnation that carried the penalty of death! (Gen. 2:17). After the "fall" the only way to truly obtain knowledge was to revert back to the original state of subservience to God. (Proverbs 1:7). According to the cited text knowledge comes from God.

On the other hand, those who refuse to bow down to this imaginary deity are considered fools and corrupt. ⁷ The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7). You ever wonder why Christians associate atheism with being morally handicapped or lacking morals altogether? Well, we have the bible to thank for that misconcpetion: ' The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' Their deeds are corrupt and vile, not one of them does right.' (Psalm 14:1). This is state in various places of the bible and theists love to quote it as much as they can.

According to the scriptures without God's guidance all knowledge is a delusion. We are basically taught in the bible to despise our own minds and distrust our powers of observation for faith, submission, and unquestioning loyalty. As a believer you are not allowed to question God, in fact, you are instructed to praise and glorify him in the good as well as the bad times. In the midst of calamity you are supposed to praise God the entire time knowing through faith that some how he will deliver you!

As a former Christian myself I can attest to the fact that once I denounced my beliefs and accepted atheism, the first and hardest lesson I had to learn was to think for myself and be self reliant. The imaginary guy in the sky was no longer a factor in my life. Atheism has taught me to take responsibility for my own life and actions. There is no Satan or devils to blame in my world for my setbacks or failures. My morals are not of divine origin but rather they stem from a sense of right and wrong that I have learned through life and observation.

In closing if you really want to be saved and experience true freedom you will never achieve that sense until you are willing to discard your mythical beliefs and delusions and see the world the way it is. It's a harsh place that is unforgiving and unpredictable but it is the world in which we live in and we have to learn to overcome adversities and adapt to it the best we can. Make your own choices in life and own up to them if you are called upon to answer to them. Waiting on the invisible guy in the sky for an answer will only lead you away from reality and deeper into the path to superstition.