Start Date: June 20, 2001 Finish Date: June 20, 2001

     As far as God goes, I do not hold belief in God for the same reasons I do not hold belief in Santa Claus. (1) They BOTH live far, far away. (2) Your parents told you about BOTH. (3) If you do what they say, you either get presents or heaven. (4) If you don't do what they say, you either get no presents or hell. (5) They BOTH have never been sensed. (6) They BOTH are non-demonstrable. (7) They BOTH have magical powers. (8) The same faith a child has in Santa Claus is the same faith a person has in God.

     All religions work like a product. Let us just say a salesman came to your door and would try to convince you to buy his product: a vacuum cleaner. They would use various methods of selling, such as showing you pictures of how dirty your carpet is deep inside, telling you how fast dirt can accumulate in the house, or telling you how many times you would need to use your normal vacuum cleaner to get rid of dirt. In basic, the salesman works to convince you that you need his product. It first creates a problem (a dirty carpet), and then it gives you the solution (a vacuum cleaner). Such is with religion. Christianity: "You are a sinner and are going to hell (problem), but accept Jesus and get salvation (solution)."

     Buddhism: "All life is pain and suffering (problem), but accept Buddhism and go through the Eight Fold Path, and you will attain enlightenment and Nirvana (solution)." Hinduism: "You will be reincarnated as a cockroach for your sinful nature (problem), but accept Hinduism's principles and ethics and you will be reincarnated as a king or nobleman (solution)." Islam: "Allah is the only being who can forgive you and reward you with heaven and you need to be forgiven and rewarded (problem), but if you accept the Qur'an's teachings, you will be forgiven and rewarded (solution)." Judaism: "Yahweh is a vengeful God who will dismember your body and kill you for disobeying his law (problem), but if you accept the Torah and the Talmud, and follow the Ten Commandments, you will be rewarded (solution)."

     Most will argue, "Then where did we come from?" This argument is flawed right from the beginning. Whereas I must explain the origins of this Universe, the believer is weighed down with the requirement of explaining the origins of a God who is infinitely beyond this Universe. As far as the origins of the Universe, I can explain perfectly fine. Humans evolved from lower life forms through the processes of Evolution and Natural Selection. The origins of the universe are explained through the Big Bang. Where did the matter come from? Matter has always existed, as predicated in the First Law of Thermodynamics: the Conservation of Energy - matter cannot be created or destroyed. In other words, 1 + 1 will never = 4 and 1 + 1 will never = 0. Matter has always existed and always will.

     Amos 3:6 "Does evil befall a city unless the Lord has done it." Lamentations 3:38 "Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?" Isaiah 45:6-7 "And God said 'I am the lord, there is no other.... I make weal and create woe, I am the lord who do all these things." In Joshua 6:21, God utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and asses, with the edge of the sword. In Chapter 31 of Numbers, Moses was displeased that his army took prisoners from a village instead of brutally killing them all and gave the following order: "Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves!" 2 Samuel 24:1, God killed 70,000 people because David took a census of them. In 2 Kings 2:23-24, God sent 2 bears to rip apart 42 children for making fun of a prophet. God killed the first-born of every Egyptian family in Exodus 12:29.

     God sanctioned slavery (Exodus 21:2-6; Leviticus 25:44-46), sanctioned the selling of one's daughter (Exodus 21:7), commanded killing of witches (Exodus 22:18), killing heretics (Exodus 22:20), killing violators of the sabbath (Exodus 31:14-15 and Exodus 35:2), killing those who curse their parents (Leviticus 20:9), killing adulterers (Leviticus 20:10), killing blasphemers (Leviticus 24:16), he demanded and sanctioned human sacrifices (Leviticus 27:28-29, Judges 11:29-40, 2 Samuel 21:1-19), he allows the eating of flesh (Genesis 9:2-3), he endorses marriage (Mark 10:7-9), and God commanded that a raped woman must marry her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

EXODUS 21
20 "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished,
21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.

     Jesus taught for you to be humble and self-sacrificing. "If someone steals your coat, give him your cloak. If someone punches you on one cheek, turn the other so he may punch that one, as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles." These are the words from the Biblical Jesus. He asks of you to be self sacrificing and to take abuse. Further, Jesus said he came for the sinners. Now, just what is sin? It is mentioned nearly 1,000 times in the Bible and it is upheld as being one of the most horrible things ever. Christians compare the sin of a rapist to the sin of a liar and say that they are equal - yet the punishments in the legal system for them is far different. So, to be a Christian, you must first admit that you are a sinner and that your sin is equal to that of a rapist or murderer. Further, Pride is a sin, so you may not be proud of who you are or what you have accomplished. Sloth, Lust, and Gluttony are also sins - you may not indulge or be happy, in basic. You must be humble and self sacrificing. Greed and Envy are still sins that ask that you do not strive to be the best you can be; you are not allowed to want things. And if you refuse Jesus Christ, you are sent to hell. So, why is Christianity this way? I'll tell you why....

     Because it is the follower who is told they are worthless, scum, sinning, and not worth being proud of, it is this follower with a low self-esteem, that will enjoy the "accept me or perish" SLAVE-MASTER relationship of man to God. Yes, God is the doctor to your wound, but only after inflicting it. He is the cure to your disease, but only after infecting you. He is your crutch, but only after breaking your leg.

     Salvation, in Christianity, is considered to be one of the most important parts of the religion, but how do we attain it? James 2:24 says "You attain salvation through works and faith", but we get a very different story in Ephesians 2:9, "You attain salvation through faith only, so no man can boast." Either God did not have anyone edit his final piece of the Bible or the people who uphold it are fools.

     The Bible, especially the Gospels, is ALL composed of legends. View these verses...

Mark 1:32-34 - "That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons... And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons."

     Now, compare that same instance with the later Gospels...

Matthew 8:16 - "That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick."

     And Luke...

Luke 4:40 - "Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them."

     In Mark, some were brought to Jesus and some were healed. In Matthew, some were brought and all were healed. And in Luke, all were brought and all were healed. Over time, legends develop and I find this to be one of the legends of the Bible.

     Isaiah 40:22 "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in."

Punkerslut,

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