Questions of Christianity part 2

As a continuation from my entry on the bible/Christianity from yesterday, I have a couple more things to point out. I’m not trying to be rude or condescending. I was raised Southern Baptist, and even after reaching adulthood, I found myself holding on to some of my beliefs from that time and trying to reconcile them with what I then believed. I’m open to the possibility of being wrong. But I think druid said it best, and I will paraphrase: “if you leave a Bible outside, the rain will smear the ink, the wind will blow the pages away – my Bible is the wind and rain”. And that’s basically what I believe now. I’d say, if I wanted to put a label on it – that I’m a pagan-ish Agnostic. I believe in Magic. I believe in nature, and power. But instead of claiming to know a “deity” or to “pray” to a specific being, I simply say that I don’t know. I don’t know what it is that’s out there – but I believe that something is. I don’t think that something is a divine, all-knowing, all-powerful being. I think it’s energy, or a consciousness, or a collective of consciousness. Maybe it’s us, functioning on a higher level. I don’t know. And although I’m continuing to search for answers, I’m okay with saying I don’t know. It works for me, for now. And as much as I tried to cling to some aspects of Christianity and faith – I just can’t anymore. I can’t see the Bible as infallible when it contradicts itself. I can’t see it as the timeless, divine word of God, when it’s not consistent. And if it is the timeless, divine word of God, and everything in the Bible is true – why on earth would you want to believe in that deity? He’s a tyrant. He’s cruel, harsh, angry, judgemental and slightly schizophrenic. That god can’t be all-knowing and in all time if he changes his mind.

Something changed with that god in the 400 year span between the Old and New Testaments. The god of the old testament was vengeful, jealous, punishing and unforgiving, vain and contradictory.. Sending the “devil” to cause pain to one of his most ardent followers just to prove how much he loved him, for example. He also can’t seem to keep his own commandments. “thou shalt not kill” was written with no clause for exceptions, no room for circumstantial differences or anything. Just don’t do it. Followed, a couple chapters later, or a book later by “oh, hi, I’m giving you this land over here. Only problem is, there are other people living there? See? Now be obedient children and kill them all – every man woman and child”. Whoa… What happened to Thou shalt not KILL? I didn’t see a clause in the ten commandments (speaking of which, since there were three versions of the ten commandments, which ones are really the commandments?) saying “don’t kill unless I tell you to, or unless some people are in your way, or unless this that or the other thing”. Shouldn’t god be against the death penalty if we’re not supposed to kill? But then he goes on to give a list of things (like adultery, which are strangely not practiced in our society today but are in others, to which we call them barbaric) that should be punishable by death. Do you know what would happen to the population of this country if everyone who committed adultery was put to death now? We’d certainly be short one or two republican presidential hopefuls. (as a funny side note, I find it hilarious that Newt wants to stand up there and talk about the “sanctity of marriage.” Gay marriage is not a threat to marriage – divorce is.) Was god pro human sacrifice or against it? He ordered Abraham to kill his son – who god then saved (in an interesting twist, it’s because god KNEW THEN that Abraham was obedient to him. If he was all-knowing, shouldn’t he have already known that?) But he DIDN’T save Jeptha’s daughter – a lesser known and never talked about story in Judges. Jeptha was a general for the Lord, and promised that if he won the battle against their current enemies, he would offer as a sacrifice the first thing that came to greet him upon his return home. He won and went home, and was met by – his only daughter. And he sacrificed her to God for the victory. Where was the voice or hand of god in that? When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, the final straw that got Pharaoh to agree to let them go for the last time (after GOD of all people, hardened his heart so he didn’t do WHAT HE WANTED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE) was the systematic murder of all Firstborn Egyptian sons by the angel of death, which was the birthplace of the Passover tradition. And, in the biggest picture of all – isn’t god performing his own child sacrifice in sending his “son” to die horribly for the sins of all men? The god of the New Testament was patient, kind, loving – giving up his only son for the good of all. What HAPPENED to god in those 400 years? It’s like he discovered Prozac.

I take huge issue with people who point to the Bible as a guide for morality and give it to their children to read. Even the HEROES of the Bible had some huge issues. David not only committed adultery (so shouldn’t he have died?) then, when he was caught, he ordered the husband of the woman killed so he could have her all to himself. His son Solomon had hundreds of wives. His son raped his own sister. Lot was given alcohol and seduced by his own daughters – both of them – so they could get pregnant. Moses, who god chose to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt was not allowed to enter the promised land that god gave them because he HIT A ROCK instead of speaking to it like God told him to. Seriously? Hitting a rock? When Jonah disobeyed God, he had him swallowed by a giant fish. Every time the Israelites disobeyed god’s laws, they were captured as slaves, or punished another way. There are a MILLION stories of the bible who are HORRIBLE lessons on Morality. What kind of Morality IS it to offer your virgin daughters to a mob outside for them to rape, instead of raping the two incognito angel strangers who show up at your front door? And it happens more than once!

Not to mention what has been done in God’s name, or because of the interpretation of his word for 1400 years. “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” was responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent men women and children. The crusades were a classic example, with the church teaching that to kill a Muslim was not murder, because they were not really human – they were infidels, and god would forgive all your sins if you’d leave your farm, go to the holy land and slaughter people. The church SOLD the forgiveness of sins to raise money. The New Testament was used to condone anti-semitism, from the inquisitions across France, Spain and Portugal up through the German holocaust. Christians have been torturing, condemning and killing people ever since they came into power in the Roman empire, starting with the Pagans – which is ironic because before then, it was the CHRISTIANS that were being persecuted. You’d think they’d learn how unpleasant it was, and not want to do that to other people. And Christians don’t even agree with EACH OTHER. One group believes this, and calls everyone else a heretic. That heretical group believes something else, and calls the first group a heretic. Where does the madness end? And if this IS the word and the will of God, why would you want to follow that? And if it’s not the word or will of God – WHERE IS HEto stop what is and has been done in HIS name. He could issue a biblical version 2.0 to clarify some of his points. Or write on a couple more tablets and say “um…excuse me, but this isn’t exactly what I meant?” or start smiting people who got it wrong. Women and children to this day are being killed in Kenya and other parts of Africa for being “witches”. Uganda wants to pass laws using the death penalty to punish gay people. How do you justify that kind of behavior in this day and age?

Also, Christians are quick to point out that their god, their religion and faith is the “one true faith” and everyone else is wrong? How do you know? Then they tell me that I don’t know or understand the Bible well enough to be able to discuss it (which, 1) is untrue. I do and 2) very ignorant to say, and is an ad-homonym attack) But at the same time – I don’t know many Christians who have studied and read the Koran. Or the original Hebrew Bible. Or the book of Mormon, or anything else – so how can you say that? You haven’t educated yourself about any of those other faiths, or studied them enough – and guess what? they all say that THEIRS is the only true faith, and YOU’RE wrong. Why? BECAUSE ALL OF YOUR HOLY BOOKS TELL YOU SO. No one can prove otherwise, you have to take it on Faith – and my blind faith, absent rational thought and intelligence is a little shortcoming these days. Sorry. Prove to me that the Bible is not only accurate, but infallible. Prove to me that these things happened, and why I should accept that this is the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. I’m open to the possibility of being wrong – but don’t think it likely.

Oh, and before you bring up the point that the Old Testament was the “old law” an it was no longer relevent once Jesus appeared on the scene, I have two problems with that. 1) Jesus himself said that he did not come to abolish the old law, but to uphold it through him, and 2) If the old testament is to be discounted, then how is it still being used as justification for condemnation of certain things, like homosexuality, and not of others. How do you pick and choose what’s still relevent, and what isn’t. And if some things are, in fact, culturally irrelivant now, then how is it the timeless, infallible word of God, if it no longer applies?

Just some things I’ve been rolling around in my head.

I love debate. I love conversation that’s respectful. And I love to learn new things. So bring it on.