It's either God or Satan

"You are a Satanist! you have never been Pentecostal! otherwise there is no way you would run mad to such levels."

If I was given a dollar for every time I have heard this phrase and its many variations  I'd be a millionnaire! It's funny but atheists that have never been theists nor had enough interest to delve deeply into what it is that Christians believe, seem to not get the reason why Christians make silly nonsensical statements like the one made above. In this post I will explain the why by utilizing the scriptures and trying to expose the mentality of the theists as a result of what the scriptures have to say on this matter. 

Anyone who knows anything about atheism will know that we don't believe in God, gods, angels, demons, heaven, hell, or even Satan. So making such a statement demonstrates two things: the Christians ignorance about atheism and their deep indoctrination due to their religious zeal. But there is a reasonable explanation for why theists call us Satan worshipers and often threaten us with the fires of hell. 

This applies to all concepts of gods! 

 

"Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'? Isaiah 45:9

 

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?" Romans 9:20

The cardinal rule of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is that God's word is absolute, and that you as his servant have no right nor business to question it. In other words Yahweh does as he pleases and he has no obligation because of who he is to give an explanation to anyone for his actions. Taking this into consideration all of those arguments atheists and agnostics make about the many murders and atrocities that have been attributed to God in the Bible are from the believers perspective invalid. That is also why the argument from evil has no basis in Christian theology or apologetics since theists believe that you basically don't question God. 

 

 

The ten commandments

Note that the first four commandments have absolutely nothing to do with how to live but rather with how one should worship only Yahweh. The very purpose of mans existence on this earth is to worship God. Worshiping God and being forever thankful for your existence is the supreme purpose of every man, woman, and child on earth. 

15See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Deuteronomy 30:15-16 

19This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live Deuteronomy 30:19 

According to the scriptures this was Moses addressing the ancient Hebrews before they crossed the Jordan into the so called land of their inheritance. The choice back then was to serve the Lord and choose life or to disobey God and choose death. This has not changed for the Christians either and these are the terms of both the old covenant and the so called new covenant in Christ. 

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18 

As you can see in the above citation the rules have not changed. The only change is that you must now acknowledge Christ as the redeemer of mankind. As stated in the O.T. citations you are given a choice between life and death which is the same as condemnation. From the beginning God begins by laying down the law in the form of commandments which require that you love and worship only him and ends with the the threat of what disobedience to him entails. Basically God says worship me or die! Quite simply put without all of the theological flourishes and platitudes about how much he loves us.

22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

Even in Christianity the choice is life or death. Choose to worship and submit to the will of the creator and live or disobey God and die in your rebellion for the opposite of submission is rebellion. It is interesting in the verse cited above that the term "slaves" of God is used. Christians you are not in a father son relationship with God your are in a master slave/servant relationship. He is the potter and you are the clay. In other words, you are also his property just like an earthly master owned his slaves that he purchased with his money, Christ has purchased you with his blood. 

22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22

11But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:11-12

...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22

The literal translation of the Greek for Satan is adversary or the adversary here is the entry on Satan in Strong's Concordance:

Original Word: Σατανᾶς, ᾶ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: Satanas
Phonetic Spelling: (sat-an-as')
Short Definition: an adversary, Satan
Definition: an adversary, Satan.

The word adversay can also be defined as an enemy and thus taking this definition literally all those that do not submit to the will of God are by default his enemies and thus followers of Satan. So in a sense as nonbelievers we are Satanists although we don't believe that Satan as the personification of evil exists. At least this is how the theistic mind sees it. 

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4

Adultery usually refers to a married man or woman as being unfaithful to their partner. But in this sense we are considered adulterers because we are unfaithful to God in that we prefer the real world over fantastical delusions. So there you have it! This is why Christians often call us Satanist or followers of Satan. In their minds there are only two choices you serve God or you serve his adversary Satan. 

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Version of the scriptures 

The definition of Satan is taken from Strong's Concordance.

What is morality?

The term “morality” can be used either

1. descriptively to refer to some codes of conduct put forward by a society or,
   1. some other group, such as a religion, or
   2. accepted by an individual for her own behavior or
2. normatively to refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.

One of the words that has been the core of many issues between theists and atheists is the word morality. The definition I have cited above is taken from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and will help us to understand this term and how it's used. Christians and other theists expend a lot of time and energy throwing this word around at atheists and agnostics and pretty much anyone who does not agree with them or believes in their God as they do. After giving this issue much thought I think I have found a reason why they do this and also what the confusion may all be about.

For the purpose of this post I will stick to using the descriptive definition outlined above instead of the normative one. It is my opinion that the biggest problem between theists and atheists is that the source and basis of our morals are derived from two very different places. I've always said that morals in general are not divine as theists believe, but rather a very human and societal phenomena. For instance, you don't need a deity to teach you through so called divine revelations written in an ancient book that murder, rape, etc. is wrong.  All of the worlds societies that have progressed have been those that have done so through unity. A society where murder is rampant and killing is not punished or socially acceptable is a society that would soon come to extinction. 

Each society has a set of laws or a judiciary code that its citizens must abide by. In these codes many of these moral laws are included. The judiciary system is in charge of making known to the residents of its districts what the laws are for that community. They differ from state to state but in general most moral laws are covered. Such things as polygamy, incest, child molestation and other moral codes are included in such laws. Another function of the judiciary system is to enforce those laws by incarceration, fines, executions, and judge through a jury of ones peers what action should be taken depending on the severity of the crime.


These laws and codes of conduct are decided upon by political representatives of every state here is a description of how the legislative process works in the U.S. government.


How Are Laws Made? Laws begin as ideas. First, a representative sponsors a bill. The bill is then assigned to a committee for study. If released by the committee, the bill is put on a calendar to be voted on, debated or amended. If the bill passes by simple majority (218 of 435), the bill moves to the Senate. In the Senate, the bill is assigned to another committee and, if released, debated and voted on. Again, a simple majority (51 of 100) passes the bill. Finally, a conference committee made of House and Senate members works out any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval. The Government Printing Office prints the revised bill in a process called enrolling. The President has 10 days to sign or veto the enrolled bill.

The above description is the process specifically used by the U.S. government to come to agreement on what laws are to be enacted. Every modern day society has their own laws and legal processes and methodology of instituting those laws. Ancient societies since the beginning have had laws to regulate the behavior and conduct of its citizens or members of their tribes etc. As you can see it's quite clear by this example that laws and moral codes are very much a human invention. 

Christians on the other hand believe that the laws or the moral codes we live by were given to man by God. They cite the ten commandments of the Old Testament and they point to the scriptures as the source of all good. But in all reality they ignore that fact that ancient societies that predate the Hebrews already had laws and moral codes of their own.

Leviticus generally deals with laws of the priests but aside from this book the laws of God for his people are pretty much scattered throughout the Pentateuch (traditionally the five books of Moses). But upon closer analyses there are some laws that are completely irrelevant to a secular society. But these laws are derived from a religious culture and society and thus include a lot of excess baggage regarding how the god of their belief system want to be treated. An interesting thing about the Bible is that it defines morality by what God says is moral.

Another interesting thing is that the Bible also considers nonbelievers of God as immoral and corrupt. This is the Christian's favorite quote when dealing with atheists and defending their belief that God is the source of all morality.

1The fool says in his heart,“There is no God.”They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;there is no one who does good.2The Lord looks down from heavenon all mankindto see if there are any who understand,any who seek God.3All have turned away, all have become corrupt;there is no one who does good,not even one. Psalm 14:1-3 

Christians claim that there is such a thing as objective morality which makes certain acts wrong and unacceptable whether you think so or not because these laws come from God! That's quite the claim in my opinion because I don't accept it as true. I am convinced that morality is subjective to a society and their culture. Let me explain: In some ancient and even modern cultures it is traditional and even socially acceptable (moral) to practice female genital mutilations on young girls. The Hebrews/Jews also practiced and still practice male genital mutilation for religious reasons as they believed God had commanded them.

Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the cutting, or partial or total removal, of the external female genitalia for cultural, religious, or other non-medical reasons. It is usually performed on girls between the ages of four and 10. It is also called female circumcision.

12For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Genesis 17:12-14

Our society doesn't even have a problem with male circumcision and many males have it done at birth in a medical facility. Today at least here in the States the medical profession cites health reasons for performing circumcisions. But it's become sort of a tradition in our own culture and not motivated by religion.

Based on the standards of men if we are to judge God by the same moral code that theists like to judge others then the good Lord fails miserably and is not moral but immoral. The fact that he is God and supposedly our creator does not in my opinion give him the right to kill. Based on the Christian idea of morality it is not defined as a culture or a society's code of acceptabe social conduct. Morality is what God says it is and is subject to whn God says it's immoral. For instance in the so called ten commandments one of the laws is:13“You shall not murder. Exodus 20:13

Apparently these laws don't apply to God.

"See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. Deuteronomy 32:39

Also, despite his law he then commands the Hebrews to do what he strictly forbade.

7They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. 17Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, Numbers 31:7;17

The so called objective morality that Christians claim are not objective at all they are entirely subjective to what they interpret to be the whim of God. Morality like all the gods are the inventions of men and are basically defined as what is considered socially acceptable behavior by a particular culture or society. No philosophical mumbo jumbo needed. 

Note: As always all biblical citations are from the New International Version of the scriptures. 

Sources

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Female_Genital_Mutilation.aspx

Gert, Bernard, "The Definition of Morality", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . 

http://www.house.gov/content/learn/legislative_process/

What did Jesus say?

When I first became a Christian as a teen in 9th grade in high school I remember not having a Bible to take with me to services. I usually had to share the Bible with another member of the church who happened to be sitting next to me during service. It wasn't long before one of the elders of the church notices this and pulled me aside one day and asked if I had a Bible and I told him that I didn't and could not afford to buy one at the time. He asked me to wait a minute and stepped away into the pastors office and soon emerged with a small New Testament Bible in his hands. He handed it to me and pointed out that the words in red were the words of the Lord Jesus Christ!! I was blown away.

My very first Bible was just like this one! 

Everytime I read my Bible and I came across the red letters that represented the word of Christ I payed extra special attention to them. I imagined in my mind that it was the Lord himself speaking to me directly through those very same words that must've been heard by the apostles themselves. I imagined Christ face as most Americans do with his long hair and  beard and those compassionate loving eyes we see in most movies about him. I recall once having dreamed that I was present at his crucifixion. The dream felt so real to me that I awoke from it "filled with the Holy Spirit" and speaking in tongues (glossolalia). I was in spiritual ecstasy for almost a half an hour and believed right then and there that God had a special purpose for my life.

This is what I believed Jesus Christ looked like

Because of the influence of movies and church proselytizing materials I had believed in those days that Jesus looked exactly as the movies depicted him. In my dreams or visions he looked exactly as I imagined him every time I had some kind of spiritual encounter or dream. I once had a series of dreams that showed me suspended in mid air and every couple of days I saw myself ascending higher and higher into the clouds. I interpreted these recurring dreams as a sort of gauge of my spirituality, the higher I went the closer I came to God. The movies helped with the image and the voice and the Bible gave me what I believed in those days were the exact words of Jesus.

In those days I only lasted in the church for about a year and I did not return to the church until 1990 when I managed to stay in the church till 94' running my own deliverance ministry. I picked up right where I had left off in high school. I was literally in love with Jesus. I gave every waking moment of my life to him and the spreading of the gospel. I talked about Jesus at work with fellow employees, on the street with strangers, when I wasn't talking to someone about Jesus I was talking to Jesus himself in my mind. I talked the talk and walked the walk literally and devoted my entire life to the Lord. I prayed over everything in my life from whether I should apply for a certain job, if offered the position should I take it, and any and all future plans. 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' Mark 12:30

You can't imagine how devastating it was to me when I found out that those red letters in that Bible did not really represent the exact words of Jesus Christ. Of course I learned about this and other things related to my former beliefs after I became an atheists and began researching the history of the church and the Bible itself. I was interested in finding out who wrote the Bible and how was it compiled and put together. I was shocked when I learned that Jesus never wrote one word that was in the Bible. So in retrospect wouldn't these red letter editions of the New Testament be guilty of misrepresenting the truth? 

The first blow came when I found out that the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke were not written by the people named as the authors of these books. In fact, I found out that Mark was the earliest of the three dated to about 65 to 70 CE. I also found out that these gospels were actually presented as anonymous works until about the mid second century. This was a huge problem for me because for years I had believed that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were the actual authors of the synoptic gospels. That those red letter portions highlighted in the texts were not actually the words of Christ but rather what others said he said. In the end it amounted to nothing more than hearsay. 

The deeper I delved into the history of  the church and the authorship of the Bible the more devastating were the surprises to my former faith. I think I actually left the church and began studying the Bible and its history hoping that in the end it would bring me back to God by justifying my faith with evidence. But all it did was push me farther and farther away from my former beliefs because the more I uncovered the angrier I got. Imagine the shock I experienced when I found out that none of the original texts were extant. Not only is the authorship of the Bible based entirely on hearsay but not one copy of an original text survived, what we have is nothing more than copies of copies of copies. None of the gospels are based on first hand accounts of the life of Jesus by people woh walked and talked with him! What we do have are second, third, fourth person accounts by people who most likely never even met Jesus. 

Even my imagined image of what Christ looked like was taken away from me and proven to be wrong. You see, no one to this day knows what Christ looked like! No one in his day thought to draw a sketch, or make an image of him. The Bible doesn't physically describe Christ for us to help us imagine what he looked like. 

 

So what did Jesus look like? I guess we'll never know.

 

 100 images of Jesus

My conclusions regarding the words of Christ is that we can never know. Unfortunately, Jesus if he existed and if he was the son of God as it is said he claimed, did not write a single solitary word of the New Testament. I think if his message was so important that being God incarnate he would have foreseen the many divisions amongst believers and if he had written a definitive gospel of his own it would have cleared up a lot of these doctrinal differences and make his church a more unified body. The fact that there are over 35,000 Christian sects in the U.S. alone speak volumes about what Christians believe and about what they perceive to be the truth.

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Translation of the scriptures.

Why atheists can't believe in God

One of the funniest things I have encountered in all my years of blogging and posting about Christianity is that theists are just as finicky as atheists and agnostics. For example, look at the terminology we currently use to define what we believe. There are deists, atheists, agnostics, theists, positive or militant atheists, negative atheists and a slew of other terms, but I think with this short list you get the point. In my view there are only two valid positions in this whole debate you are either an atheist or a theist. You either believe in the existence of gods or you don't; all the rest is just excess baggage.

The easiest way to define atheism is basically that we don't believe that gods exist. This definition applies to all gods especially the most popular of them all Yahweh. A theist tends to disagree with atheists in that they believe in the god of their choice, and in most cases submit themselves to this god and worship him. Besides the fact that gods have never been proven to exist nor have made their existence known objectively; the theists claim that their subjective experiences of gods are sufficient evidence of his/her/or their existence. For simplicity's sake I will only refer to the Christian God for the rest of this post.

It's ironic that according to theists the only way that you can come to a knowledge of the existence of God is through giving up your basic logic and reasoning skills in favor of faith. It is basically an open admission that God cannot be known he can only be felt and perceived through a sixth sense called spirituality.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists Hebrews 11:6

Faith is like trust without evidence. Hence the term "leap of faith," you take risks without really being sure of the outcome, but hoping that your beliefs about that desired outcome were correct. Faith asks you to put it all on the line and trust in God despite what any evidence to the contrary may lead you to believe. 

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;6in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

The biggest obstacle between atheism and theism is that an atheist requires evidence before making any life commitments. Most atheists are of an analytical nature we like to solve puzzles and almost universally share a love for the sciences. We like taking things apart and trying to figure out what makes them work. Most of us are naturalist in that we believe that most things in this world including the world and the universe itself are best explained naturally we do not throw in the towel when we come across a mystery that we can't solve. Atheists for the most part have a deep desire to learn and a need to know what can be known about the world we live in. 

Aside from the fact that God seems to be hiding from mankind or that his intervention (miracles) in human affairs are nonexistent, another reason we can't believe in God is that we don't believe in so called divine revelation as a means of obtaining knowledge or ascertaining truth. In the case of Judaism, Christianity, and finally Islam we don't accept their so called holy texts namely the Tanakh, New Testament, and the Koran as revelations from their respective deities. 

All scriptures are the products of men and not gods

The fact that the Bible is self contradictory and riddled with errors about science and history is a testament against it being a revelation from an omnipotent, omniscient, all knowing God. But Christians have found a solution for this very big and obvious problem. They have modified how they interpret the Bible. If it makes sense then it is taken literally, if it doesn't make sense then it was meant to be taken allegorically, and if it is really absurd then it was a parable with a deeper more spiritual meaning not to be taken literally. There is also the art of cherry picking in which a theist can mix and match verses from the scriptures usually quoted out of context to make a certain doctrine or belief seem more coherent and supported by the scriptures themselves. 

Through the art of cherry picking man has found justification for some of the worlds most horrible atrocities. The Bible through cherry picking gave Hitler justification for exterminating the Jews, gave the American South justification for enslaving the African man, gave others the right to treat women like second class citizens and was used by the church fathers as a reason to despise women (misogyny). Because of the Bible and mans interpretations of it so called heretics, witches, devil worshipers were all murdered in cold blood. Christian history is inundated in an ocean of innocent blood. Today's Christians persecute and ostracize others who don't hold their beliefs and make atheists feel like they are not upstanding members of society. They wrongly accuse us of being immoral, vile, evil, etc. What justification do they have for all of these false accusations? The Bible! 

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4

According to the scriptures if you are not a believer and don't accept the gospel as the word of God you are then an enemy of God. The Bible states that the only way you can find reconciliation is through accepting the death and resurrection of Christ by faith. 

For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:10

The first problem an atheist may have with this is that there is no evidence for the existence of Yahweh, Jehovah, God whatever you want to call him. Secondly the evidence for Christ fares no better in secular history than God's. If we are to accept that the biblical God exists on faith then also on faith we must give all the other thousands of gods that man has created for himself the benefit of the doubt. Some of those gods threaten some horrible punishments in the afterlife if we don't believe in them now. So this brings up another dilemma: which god should we believe in and how do we determine the truth of his existence? 

Atheists can't believe from a logical standpoint in the existence of gods because in our view all gods were created equal! Just as there is no evidence for the existence of Baal, Bacchus, Ani, etc. there is no evidence for Yahweh, Allah, Jehova or whatever you want to call him. 

I think that philosophy when applied to religious beliefs is one of the main causes for all the confusion regarding terminology and classification of what we all believe or don't believe. In fact philosophy is called apologetics in Christianity because they misapply philosophical principles to somehow try to justify the incoherence of their beliefs. No one but philosophers waste time pondering the attributes of God, the possibility of his existence outside of space and time, etc. All ridiculous things to ponder without any evidence of them even being real. 

Note: All biblical verses are taken from the New International Version of the scriptures.

God is not a valid hypothesis

A few days ago I wrote an article on why I thought that agnosticism was not a valid position to hold when it came to the existence or non-existence of God or gods in general. I stated that my main reason for thinking this was that the idea of gods came from ancient myths and superstitions. In this post I would like to take the opportunity to elaborate on my position. First off I would like to inform you as you might have already guessed, that I am an atheist. I am convinced that there is no reason to believe in God or gods nor to use them as explanations for things we cannot understand at this time.

Superstition : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.

I'm going to go out on a limb and state here that all religious beliefs that posit the existence of a God or gods are rooted in superstition. The above definition of the word superstition outlines three of the most important elements necessary to qualify a belief as a superstition. They are ignorance, fear, and a false conception of causation. For those with reading comprehension skills or a limited vocabulary causation means exactly what it says. It refers to why things happen or what causes things to happen as they do. 

The first element necessary for the birth of a superstition is ignorance. I know it's an ugly word and of course no one likes to be called ignorant. But in reality we are all ignorant about a great many things in this life. Ignorant just means that we are uninformed about a certain body of knowledge or field of study. Not everyone is an expert on every subject we can think of. So in this sense, we are all ignorant about a lot of things. Thankfully for mankind there are a number among us that is not satisfied with not knowing. People like myself and the many great scientists that have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge. For people like us ignorance is not bliss because of the fact that we have restless minds that thirst for knowledge. 

Ignorance is not bliss!

In today's day and age ignorance is not bliss, it's embarrassing! A perusal of some of our ancient ancestors religious beliefs and practices will quickly reveal some of the things that any particular group we study were ignorant about. Ignorance about natural phenomena such as lightening, thunder, solar and lunar eclipses, earthquakes, tsunamis, drought, tornadoes, and other natural occurrences or disasters were greatly misunderstood. Primitive man did not know why these things happened nor how they happened. In fact it was our early ancestors desire to know why and his habit of anthropomorphism that I believe gods came about. 

Ignorance was the first step towards superstitious beliefs which was followed by fear. Fear is the main ingredient of all religions ancient and modern although Christians would like to deny this fact by reinterpreting what the bible means by fear.

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, Deuteronomy 10:12

4“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him Luke 12:4-5

Fear: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger 

Primitive man feared the elements, what he perceived to be evil spirits, in some cases even angry spirits of their enemies. It was an age of superstition that surprisingly still exists even today amongst many cultures and modern day societies. It wasn't too long ago that people being accused of being witches in league with the devil were being executed in Salem Massachusetts. Man has worshiped everything on the face of this earth at one time or another. Man has worshiped nature, animals, dead ancestors, imaginary gods of his own creation, evil spirits that serve as gods nemesis (also of his own creation), other men both living and dead, the planets, stars, some societies even created female deities to compliment their male gods. All gods known and unknown are the creation of men!

For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship--and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. Acts 17:23

It's ironic but in the above cited text Paul is visiting Athens and finds an altar with the inscription:"To an unknown god!" Lol Paul then takes this opportunity to preach his gospel of Jesus Christ to the Athenians. Greek mythology was riddled with gods who controlled different elements of nature such as Zeus,  Poseidon, Thor, etc. Paul played the famous god of the gaps ploy that modern day theists play with atheists and skeptics. It goes a little something like this: Science cannot tell us how the universe began to exist, or how organic life came from inorganic matter, so it leaves us to conclude that God did it! 

As nice as that hypothesis seems it is not a valid and or logical hypothesis. In fact, it is not an hypothesis at all. It's an irrational insertion of an unverifiable belief.

Hypothesis: A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.

As seen in the above definition when it comes to the god hypothesis we have one big stumbling block that is simply insurmountable while at the same time making this hypothesis implausible. First and foremost it can't be tested scientifically. There is nothing in all of human experience that objectively or empirically confirms the existence of a god, whether it be a supernatural conscious being or some impersonal undetectable force acting surreptitiously in our universe.This so called god did it hypothesis is undetectable, untestable, untenable. 

Finally, positing the idea of some god to fill in all the gaps in our current scientific knowledge would create more problems than it would solve. The first and foremost problem would be to define this god in terms that we could all understand and agree upon. Then we would have to try and discern what exactly are the properties of this god and where did it come from. If we accept the premise that there is no such thing as an infinite regress of time and that everything that began to exist must have a beginning then to state that this god had no beginning is simply begging the question. 

If you consider as I do that all the gods of the past are man made this includes the Judeo-Christian God. Then to imagine yet another god without evidence with a bunch of impossible and improbable properties is no better than what our ancestors were doing. We are literally attributing the existence of the universe and our very own existence to the realm of myth and superstition. This is not science this is pseudo-science.

Notee: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Version and all word definitions are taken from the Merriam Webster online dictionary and the free dictionary online.

Why agnosticism is irrational

agnostic (n.)

1870, "one who professes that the existence of a First Cause and the essential nature of things are not and cannot be known" [Klein]; coined by T.H. Huxley (1825-1895), supposedly in September 1869, from Greek agnostos "unknown, unknowable," from a- "not" + gnostos "(to be) known" (see gnostic).

 

atheist (n.)

1570s, from French athéiste (16c.), from Greek atheos "without god, denying the gods; abandoned of the gods; godless, ungodly," from a- "without" + theos "a god" 

 

I've come across many blogs and sites that contend that atheism is an irrational position because we can't know for sure that gods or a God does not exist. For the purpose of this article I would like to inform the reader that when I use the term God with a capital G I am specifically referring to the Judaeo Christian deity and when I don't capitalize I am referring to gods in general. 

From the outset I would like to inform the reader that I am an atheist who affirms that gods and God specifically do not exist. I am a firm believer that in this case at least absence of evidence is evidence of absence. It is my opinion that there are certain issues that can be answered definitively without the necessity for holding back judgement based on the origins for instance of a religious tradition or belief. 

Let's elaborate first what it means to be an agnostic. As in atheism the "a" has a negative connotation and can be interpreted to mean without or as is pointed out in the definition for agnosticism not. Basically what the agnostic claims is that the existence of God or gods cannot be known because of insufficient knowledge or evidence to make a positive claim for or against the claim of the existence of gods. To an extent I agree with this definition. For instance I am of the opinion that no one can definitively prove or disprove the existence of God. This is definitely an agnostic position but I take my view a step further. 

 

Since this blog is mostly about the Christian deity I will focus on him for the most part, but this same argument applies to all gods. Due to years of research and my own personal studies of comparative  religions and religious origins and beliefs, I have come to the definite conclusion that God does not exist. There are several reasons which I will seek to outline in this post.

The first and most telling reason to me is that conveniently God if he exists does so outside of space and time and beyond the reach of scientific scrutiny and inquiry. We can't put God in a test tube and if we were to take the Bible as a revelation from this deity to man he is elusive on purpose. In the scriptures where most Jews, Christians, and Muslims get their concept of this God you read incredible tales about the exploits of this deity and his interaction specifically with the ancient Hebrew/Jews. We read of the parting of the Red sea or the sea of Reeds. The global flood, creation, the origins of languages, all narrated in fictional tales which are quite frankly the way myths and traditions are made. 

Yes, there is some actual history intertwined in some of these narratives but that does not validate the extraordinary claims of a deity's intervention in human affairs. The ancient Hebrews claimed in these tales that God spoke from a mountain with a thunderous voice, he accompanied them in the desert as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night! He struck people dead on the spot for disobeying him, he caused natural disasters like the nine plagues he supposedly inflicted on Egypt. 

These tales are fantastical because they are the creations of man and obviously reflect within them the most common beliefs and superstitions of the day. The authors of the Bible claim that they obtained their knowledge of this God by inspiration or some kind of divine revelation. But if we are to take revelation as a valid means of obtaining knowledge then we run into a huge problem. What of all the other so called sacred texts from around the world whose authors claim to have been divinely revealed by the god or gods of their choice? If we accept that the Bible was revealed to man by God then we must extend that same benefit to all the other religions claiming revelation. The next problem is that all these revelations from all these deities are vastly different from one another. So which one is correct? Some like the biblical deity threaten eternal damnation for those who refuse to worship and believe in them.

The world is also chock full of creation myths that span every culture and society one could imagine. It is my belief that religions are rooted in ancient superstitions and myths and have nothing to do with any real deities or gods. There is no proof of God because he only exists in the hearts and minds of those that choose to believe in him. This is obviously why you can't prove what only exist in the mind. Man can imagine many things but just because he imagines them does not make them real. I can imagine a goddess with voluptuous breasts and the sexiest body I can think of. I can dress her in my favorite clothes or better yet naked. I can love her or fear her and create her story to intertwine with actual events in our time. This does not make her real in any sense. This is the stuff of fiction; how books are written and movies scripts are made.

God and gods in general being the creations of men and whatever a fearful and ignorant mind can imagine does not make those imaginings true. In fact, they don't even seem probable. Why doesn't God make any appearances today? Not to individuals but to whole nations all at once. The fact that I don't know or even may never know how life evolved from nonliving matter or how the universe came to be does not lead me to delve into myths to explain what at this time is not yet known. 

Here is a question for my readers and those that may oppose my views on this matter. Do you believe that leprechauns exist? If not, then why? We don't have evidence that they exist but they have existed in Irish lore for quite some time. We have heard many conflicting tales about them. In some tales they are harmless and benevolent and in others they can be quite dangerous and mean. To my knowledge not too many people have a problem with dismissing these creatures outright. Why? Because although there is no evidence of their existence we are sure that they are derived from traditional lore and have been invented by men. Why should gods or even the biblical God be any different? Remember that yesterdays gods, beliefs, and traditions, have for the most part become today's myths. The Bible and the Torah need to take their place in the category of myths along with all the others where they belong.

In the case of agnosticism is it reasonable to hold off judgement regarding the existence of leprechauns? Is absence of evidence not evidence of absence in this case? If your answer is no then you are being hypocritical. Because if you were true to your agnostic position you would also acknowledge that leprechauns, fairies, sprites, angels, demons, gods, big foot, ufo's, the Kraken, all the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology, the boogie man, the mothman, the tooth fairy, Santa, etc. must all probably exist since we don't have enough knowledge to make a decision to the contrary.

In conclusion, the evidence we do have points to the nonexistence of God. When you realize that God is a myth based on a rational review of the traditions surrounding beliefs about God and the origins of myths themselves. I'm not a big fan of probability theory because based on it anything no matter how ridiculous can be given serious consideration as probably being true.

Note: All word definitions are taken from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

The making of a myth

"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
Adolf Hitler

 Although I did not agree with his politics or the cruel acts perpetrated by Hitler and his Nazi regime, it is my opinion that of all the men/women who have ever written anything about religion Hitler demonstrated that he had a greater understanding of the use of propaganda and religion. As the title of my blog states I am convinced that God is a myth. It is the biggest and most abhorrent lie to ever be conceived by man. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have been at the root of many prejudices against humanity as a whole and the many ideals of those that disagree with the teachings of each religion.

Christianity is the most self-loathing, and deprecating religion on the face of the earth because it basically teaches its adherents that they are nothing without God. That life has no sense or meaning if it is not devoted to serving the Lord. In fact, the Bible states that serving the Lord is our purpose in life. It teaches you to accept that you are a loathsome creature in need of salvation from an imaginary condition called sin. Although you are told that you can choose to not accept God's "free gift" of salvation you are actually coerced to do so by the threats of eternal torment and damnation. 

  

The lake of fire

Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15

Revelations 20 is an interesting read because in it you get to read about God's final plan for all those that are "saved" and of course the so called wicked. The Bible equates wickedness with non-belief and so it is not just bad works that make you a wicked person it's your rejection of a belief in the invisible guy in the sky. In Revelations you are led to believe that like Santa God has a bunch of books that have the details of everyone's life. Can you imagine how many books he must have to have for everyone's acts in life to be written down? This alone is reason enough to throw the Bible in the trash can. This is also another contradiction of God's attribute of being omniscient (all knowing) because if this were the case he would not need books he should know everything about you by just looking at you. He also supposedly has the book of life which is where your name would appear if you are saved from damnation. It seems kind of redundant to look at books of your life and works when all he could do is look at the book of life to determine if you are saved or not. 

I find that the more ridiculous the lie the more you have to stretch the limits of your imagination to believe it. The Bible is chock full of ridiculous lies and it takes a hell of a lot of mental gymnastics to sustain and perpetuate those lies. 

Myth: a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon 

The greatest lie ever told is that there is an invisible man in the sky who knows everything you do, think, or feel. He wants you to recognize him for how by his own definition wonderful and great he is for having created you. Failure to give God his due recognition, adoration, and praise will result in your eternal damnation. The biggest question that the Bible answers is why. It is a book about origins and for some people it actually leads them to believe that in it they can find some kind of meaning to life and existence itself. 

Science has yet been unable to come up with the exact process of how life evolved from nonliving matter otherwise known as abiogenesis. It is this gap in scientific knowledge that religion exploits to the fullest. In fact, when it comes to any knowledge that may be lacking or incomplete in the sciences religion allows you to simply insert God as the answer. But if you really think about it you will come to quickly realize that the Bible was wrong about many matters that we have learned and discovered through scientific scrutiny. 

It was the Bible that led man to believe that the earth was the center of the universe and that the planets and the sun revolved around it.

"So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day." Joshua 10:13

I don't care how much you try my dear apologist you just can't state that the above verse was an allegory or was not meant to be taken literally. It speaks quite plainly that the sun and the moon stood still in the heavens for a full day no extra-biblical interpretation is necessary. Seeing this from the perspective of the author we could easily understand how they thought that the sun revolved around the earth. If you watch the sun rise and set as it appears to move across the sky from east to west it is understandable to believe that it is moving around our planet. But today through astronomy we now know that this is just an optical illusion. If the Bible got that wrong how much more has it gotten wrong? This alone demonstrates that the Bible is a book of myths written, edited, and produced by fallible men.

These ancient myths have been concocted to answer the many why questions that were mulling in the minds of ancient man. How did the universe come to be? Where do we come from? Why am I here? What happens when I die? etal. It's ironic that the only way you can know if the Bible is true and God truly exist is after you are dead. But as you know death is actually the end of all life within you. Your brain cells die and you cease to exist as a living organism. There is no evidence whatsoever of a soul or some life force that exists after you die. So once again you just have to take the Bibles word for it on these matters.

Myths are traditional stories usually transmitted orally from generation to generation that help people understand their origins. It's not science nor are those stories able to be confirmed by empirical research most people just take them by faith. The old that's the way it's always been applies here when it comes to myths.

Tradition : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable 

Based on the definition I've just given, to state that God is a myth is an accurate description of the beliefs about and or related to God. Most people that claim a belief in God do so because they were indoctrinated to believe in him early in life. It's what is known as ma and pa's religion. They generally inherited the traditions of the family. On some rare occasions they actually question those beliefs and eventually recognize them as the bunk that they are.  

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New International Version of the scriptures and all word definitions are taken from the Merriam Webster online dictionary.

Proving a negative

The claim that God does not exist is a positive assertion of a negative claim. When it comes to the claim that God does not exist I don't see how it is my responsibility to prove that he doesn't even though I make the claim based on lack of evidence and my personal experience. Why is it that theists insist that we try to prove a negative? I am of the opinion that you can't prove that God exist or doesn't. As the religion states it's one of those things that you just have to accept in faith.

The claim that God exist is unprovable for many reasons of which I will outline a couple of the most common ones in this post. The first and biggest problem with proving the existence of God is that he or it is invisible! The fact that he is invisible makes it impossible to prove by seeing him because he is of an immaterial nature. Not only that but if you happen to see him you will die! I am aware of some contradictory texts that state that Moses saw God face to face etc. but for the sake of argument just play along.

20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Exodus 33:20

I find this problem most troubling and quite convenient for the believer. This is one of those cases where absence of evidence is evidence of absence. You can't see God but you must believe that he exist. Your only basis for belief is faith which in all truth nothing but blindly accepting something without evidence. Faith is truly blind and it requires nothing more than belief to make whatever you can imagine a reality.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

Another problem with proving the existence of God is that he exist in a realm outside of our known space and understanding of time. Once again this is quite convenient for the believer. Because of this it is impossible to test the theory that God exists without him voluntarily making himself known and available. But of course doing so would defeat the necessity for believing in God through faith alone. According to Christian teachings God wants you to know and serve him but he doesn't want to make himself known.

Another problem is the problem of miracles. We hear about them all the time and believers assure us that they are acts of God. But I have personally never seen a real miracle in the sense that God intervenes in the laws of nature in such a way as to make something that is known to be impossible to occur. For instance it would be quite a miracle if God healed amputees. The Bible mentions miracles of God such as healing the blind, death, mute, and even paralytics but you  never read about him restoring a limb. Humans are unable to regenerate limbs that have been torn off or medically amputated. In this regard the following link has some good questions about the existence of God and its relevance to amputees. 

It's funny that all of the rigorous requirements that theists try to put on us nonbelievers only apply to the existence of God. Reason and logical thinking does not apply to God by default and therefore they don't seem to see the hypocrisy of their position. We don't believe in Santa or in elves but we don't go out to the North Pole to try and find him either. In all reality God can't be found because he exists only in the imagination. I find the idea of God utterly ridiculous and completely irrational.

There are so many things in this world that make sense from a naturalistic point of view without requiring the existence of God or demons, devils, and angels. Natural disasters, children dying violent deaths, women dying while giving birth, etc. all these things make sense without inserting a personal deity into the picture. Not all events of our lives have to have a reason not everything ends with a why behind it. When you put God into the mix all you do is create for yourself a mess of unnecessary and irrational questions that just can't be answered.

The Christians famous "God works in mysterious ways" doesn't work in the real world. Or blaming certain tragedies on Satan or someone being possessed by a demon makes absolutely no sense at all. A mom who murderes her own child or a child who kills his parents cannot be logically explained since we don't know what was going through the perpetrators mind at the time. But saying he was possessed by Satan just makes a bad situation seem worse and creates a bunch of stupid and nonsensical why questions.

God doesn't explain why evil exists nor does the biblical explanation for the existence of evil since it basically tells us that it came into existence when mans innocence was shattered after the fictional Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. It is because of this one act of disobedience to God's command that mankind has inherited sin as if it were some form of a genetic trait. The Bible wants you to believe that you are born with a debt to this God and it is only payable by accepting Jesus as your Lord and savior. Submitting your life to him and believing that it will put you back in God's good graces.

Having made my case in this post I think that atheism is the logical position to take when it comes to the existence of God. Agnosticism on the other hand in my opinion makes no sense because you are assuming that God could exist but that we can't know for sure since we don't have enough information to make that call. How much information do you need? There is zero evidence of the existence of God and because of the fact that he is outside the reach of scientific discovery I dare say with confidence that there is no God and that there never will be evidence of his existence. God is the creation of mans imagination and nothing more.

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New Internation Version

Catholic idolatry

Is the Catholic church guilty of idolatry? That is the question that I will seek to answer in this post with not just my own commentary but with biblical reference as well. Just for kicks I am going to be citing from the Catholics New Jerusalem version of scriptures and even defining some of the terminology from their own online encyclopedia. Let's start this post by first defining what exactly is idolatry. And while we are at it we are going to knock out two birds with one stone by also defining the word veneration.

Idolatry etymologically denotes Divine worship given to an image, but its signification has been extended to all Divine worship given to anyone or anything but the true God.

Veneration : respect or awe inspired by the dignity, wisdom, dedication, or talent of a person 

Interestingly enough the word veneration doesn't even appear in the Catholic online encyclopedia so I have taken my definition for that word from the online Merriam Webster dictionary. So now that we have those two terms defined the next question is why is the Catholic church guilty of idolatry?

Images of the virgin Mary figure prominently in the Catholic church

The Catholic church pretty much has created an image or icon for just about anyone they deemed worthy of recognition amongst their members. They have also cast images of men who were influential in the bible such as Jesus and his apostles. In the case of veneration it is one thing to admire the dedication of a fellow believer and entirely another thing to pray to or inadvertently worship that persons image.The very first thing that the Catholic church does wrong is that it made images and icons of prominent figures in church history. Why is this wrong?

⁸ ' "You must not make yourselves any image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; ⁹ you must not bow down to these gods or serve them. ... Deuteronomy 5:8-9

Notice in this text that it say's "these gods" in verse nine. Many will use this as a contention to defend the veneration of saints by stating that they don't worship them nor consider them gods. Let's look at the etymology of that word god.

god (n.) Old English god "supreme being, deity; the Christian God; image of a god; godlike person," from Proto-Germanic *guthan (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch god, Old High German got, German Gott, Old Norse guð, Gothic guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Old Church Slavonic zovo "to call," Sanskrit huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke." 

 

 

Notice in this definition that we have the terms "supreme being" and "godlike person" this is where I think most Catholics go wrong. They view certain people as being godlike or godly and choose to venerate them after death. The bible is full of stories about the exploits of its most prominent figures and they honor their memories through those tales. What you don't see in the scriptures are images of men of note or people praying to men of note in the bible. The closest you come to this is when Moses led the people and whenever things went bad for them they often pleaded with Moses to intercede on their behalf with God. But although Moses was considered one of the greatest figures in the scriptures you never hear of the Hebrews making statues of him or praying for his intercession after death. 

The Bible demonstrates repeatedly how the ancient Hebrews were so easily prone to worship other gods that they came in contact with. In fact, there was one incident where God sent a plague of fiery serpents (whatever that means) at the Israelites and killed many of them. Moses was then asked to make a bronze serpent to counteract the bites and heal the afflicted. 

⁶ At this, God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. ⁸ and Yahweh replied, 'Make a fiery serpent and raise it as a standard. Anyone who is bitten and looks at it will survive.' Numbers 21:6;8

Whatever happened to that snake that Moses made? Well, the biblical narrative later tells us that it was destroyed by king Hezekiah. Just for the record the term fiery is more of a reference to the color of the bronze statue. It's not literally on fire! Why God did not just take the plague away with his word is beyond me. Not only that he forced Moses to break the commandment cited earlier about making images  of things on earth or below the earth.

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 2 Kings 18:4

As you can see the very act of burning incense to this image was considered idolatry. Yet Catholics burn incense to their saints all the time. Just walk into any one of their churches and you might find a place to light candles or burn incense to your favorite saint.

A typical altar for burning candles and incense in a Catholic church

There are specifically two verses in the scriptures where "saint" worship is strictly forbidden. The first is when Peter is called to the house of Cornelius a gentile and the second is when John in the book of Revelations finds himself in the presence of an angel.

 

²⁵ and as Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, fell at his feet and did him reverence.²⁶ But Peter helped him up. 'Stand up,' he said, ' after all, I am only a man!' Acts 10:25-26

 

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I had heard and seen them all, I knelt at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me, to worship him;⁹ but he said, 'Do no such thing: I am your fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of your brothers the prophets and those who keep the message of this book. God alone you must worship.'Revelation 22:8-9

One was an apostle and the other was an angel and on both occasions the believer was chastised for bowing down to them which is the equivalent of worship. Today's Catholics despite their claims of only venerating or seeking holy intervention in  prayer through the saints bow down to them and show them a reverence that the bible states is only due to God. 

When it comes to the so called use of saints for intercessory prayer then we have to expose the fallacy of this belief as well. There are several verses of scripture that can do this in one fell swoop but for the sake of brevity I will limit myself to two examples.

⁵ For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus,1 Timothy 2:5

²⁴ It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was merely a model of the real one; he entered heaven itself, so that he now appears in the presence of God on our behalf. Hebrews 9:24

As you can see one of the functions of Christ was to reconcile man with God. It is through him that you as a believer have access to the Father. Praying to saints in hopes that they will agree with you in prayer or intercede on your behalf to the Father is just not biblical. 

¹³ Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 14:13-14

In conclusion, making images for church veneration or worship is strictly forbidden. Venerating images of saints or utilizing them for intercessory prayer is strictly forbidden. Lighting candles and incense to so called saints is strictly forbidden in the scriptures. Putting men of faith on a pedestal is no different than worshiping them and amounts to nothing more than idolatry.

Note: All biblical citations are taken from the New Jerusalem Bible and word meanings come from Merriam Webster online dictionary, the Catholic Encyclopedia online, and the Online Etymology Dictionary.