Monday, April 19, 2010

Religion is Bullshit

Faith, and any faith based system is untouchable. Mainly because if you believe something, there is almost nothing I can do to dissuade you from believing that. But, being the stubborn person that I am, I will try anyway. This blog will focus more on Christianity than anything, but only due to my own knowledge of the subject.

The Bible
Clearly an article of fiction, even most logical Christians will concede that most the stories are just stories for how you should live your life. These stories are generally not meant to be taken literally. Of course there are many things in the bible that specifically state that they are literal. I will list a few of them:

Man cant lay with other man- Makes sense right? God doesn't like gay people. But why did he create them in the first place then?

Stone disobedient children- This one is a bit extreme. Spanking? Sure. But actually throwing rocks at them? Seems a little primitive.

Its OK to sell your daughter into slavery- This one is so ludicrous I cant bring myself to comment. If any actual parent thought this is a good idea, they should have their genitalia removed, lest they create more cash cows to burden the world with.

Working on Sunday=death- Apparently God is a big fan of the Sabbath. I mean if I created the universe in six days I'd want to rest too. But He also expects us to rest as well? Sorry we cant live up to the standards of a benevolent bearded man in the sky.

Men cant have long hair, it "Shall be a shame on them"- Aren't pretty much all depictions of Christ of the long haired variety?

Men should not go near women when they are menstruating- Pardon me God if I don't go around asking women whether or not Aunt Flo is in town. Personally I don't want to know unless I am actively having sex with you.

My question with all of these is how can Christians pick and choose what to believe? You cant say "God hates fags" but not support "Selling your daughters" It doesn't work like that. But I suppose that faith gets a buy doesn't it?

Noah's Ark is another thing about the bible that just pisses me off. Noah's Ark is quite frankly embarrassing for anyone that wants to read it literally. I understand the general idea of it. But I have actually witnessed people saying that Noah's Ark is literal. I'm sorry but that is impossible. There are 20 billion species on earth now, even today's technology wouldn't be able to create a boat big enough for that many creatures. But I guess with God on your side you don't need logic or technology, do you?

As an afterthought I will say, I love the idea of God. An omnipotent ever-loving being always watching me and making sure I am OK is great. But the fact remains, there is no evidence for God. Does that mean he doesn't exist? No. But ask yourself this, if he really existed why wouldn't he say he did. I leave with a favorite quote of mine:
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

- Epicurus [341–270 B.C.]

6 comments:

  1. I wouldn't try to dissuade you from your beliefs either, but it should be said that the first few paragraphs from man can't lay with other men through not going near women while menstruating are all Levitical law. The Bible teaches that God did not want to impose a long list of laws (which is what the entire book of Leviticus is) but the Hebrews couldn't stay out of trouble and Moses kept begging God for rules to be imposed.

    Also, the Sabbath isn't Sunday. It's from 6 pm Friday through 6 pm Saturday. It's a common mistake since Christians generally 'worship' on Sunday. But God started on day 1 and on the seventh day he rested. The seventh day is Saturday, and that's the day of rest the Hebrews abide by to this day.

    Christians don't have a Sabbath, and they aren't held to any of the laws of Leviticus that you wrote out above. The Christian book of Hebrews (found in the New Testament and written after the death of Christ) teaches that Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Because Christ has come there is no longer reason to follow the Law of God. In Christ, we are free from the burden of law because salvation is now reality. Before Christ, when the law was in effect, it was necessary to have the laws because one could not actually achieve salvation. By following the law in faith to God, and asking forgiveness when one failed a point of the law, they showed their willingness to accept Christ when he should come.

    Anyway, I'm not trying to change your mind but I thought you should know that many of the things you mentioned aren't actually Christian, they're Jewish. Agreed on Noah's Ark though, for sure.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you. A little bit of education is always good! Thanks for the great response.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wait a tick. These are all things in the CURRENT CHRISTIAN BIBLE. Its not like I pulled these from a Jewish bible. Doesn't matter if they started out as Jewish, they are considered Christian now. In fact, didn't Jesus start out Jewish?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Haha. Yeah, Jesus was a Jew. They are found in the Christian Bible because they are considered inspired by God, and Christ is considered the fulfillment of the Old Testament (the sacrifice of animals in obedience to God's Law) and the beginning of the New Testament (acceptance of the Messiah as God's Son and the purchaser of salvation). But the actual laws in these books don't apply to Christians. Just Hebrews. I eat pork and fuck bitches as much as the next dude, regardless of how Moses felt about it.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
  5. Then why the retention of the whole "homosex bad" argument?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Romans chapter 1 describes the state of mankind without God and some believe it alludes to homosexuality (even though the passage that would is referring to women lusting for eachother, not actually sodomy). Also a lot of Christians lean on the portrait of marriage. Since God ordained the first marriage of Adam and Eve, and there are never references to homosexual marriage in the Bible, it must be wrong.

    Some others use the story of Sodom. The story is that two angels were in the city of Sodom to visit Lot, but the men of Sodom (all ages, children and elderly) demanded that Lot turn over the two angels (who appeared as men) to be raped. God was angry that the men wanted to rape the angels and so destroyed the entire city. The story never specifically calls out homosexuality but it's the origin of the term 'sodomy' and some Christians cling to it as an example.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete

hit counter