God and Religion are Lies
March 11, 2009 6 Comments
“…atheism is not a conscious act of turning away from all gods. It is simply the final destination for those who think. …you will be pleased to discover that the sky does not fall down on your head. … if you still want to pray, you can (the success rate of your prayers is unlikely to change).” Guy P. Harrison
After going over all of this God and religion stuff for nearly two years now and not really finding any new facts (except for occasional new science coming up…that all supports, so far, the ‘No God’ theory that I hold) I have boiled it all down to this….
The fact that Adam and Eve did not exist (among other things that are known to be untrue in the Bible), completely unhinges the Christian religion. For, if there was no Adam and Eve, the whole Christian scheme of redemption falls completely apart. There is no need of Jesus…as there was no original sin. The God story keeps falling apart upon close modern examination.
Year after year the science gets better, and it invariably proves something else is not true in the Bible.
It can be proven, by many paths, that the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Adam and Eve, and the Exodus are not historical happenings. A real God would not write this untrue stuff…but men would.
Christians can deny this all they want and it will not change the facts. The evidence keeps getting stronger, not weaker.
…” I deny the existence of all Gods: those of the Mayans, the Hindu, the Ancient Egyptians, and the God of the Old and New Testaments. If I am right, all of these are fictional constructs invented by clever humans for … a variety of purposes, ranging from psychological comfort to entertainment.” Doug Jesseph
About the word of me
The Word of Me... 
Well, I maintain that if you’re looking for God with science, you’re using the wrong tools. You can’t prove or locate spiritual truths with temporal methods.
I think that spiritual endeavors can inspire temporal progress (hospitals funded by churches, etc.) and I think that temporal progress can sometimes inspire people to look beyond the provable to find what lies beyond it…but you’re never going to find what you’re looking for with science, or history or anything like that.
That is what’s always going to be the stumbling block for those who want proof of God. Faith and proof aren’t in the same zip code. Sometimes, they touch, but rarely for long.
As for the Bible not being “accurate”…hell, I raise my girl with stories, simplifications and sometimes, yes, even lies that are designed to put her on a proper path. But you already know how I feel about the OT stories I think, and why they are they way that they are.
Peace.
Hi Deacon, thanks for your reply.
You write: “Well, I maintain that if you’re looking for God with science, you’re using the wrong tools. You can’t prove or locate spiritual truths with temporal methods.”
It’s not really looking for God so much as finding out facts that seem to strongly contradict the worldview that the Bible proclaims.
The Bible is saying that the earth was created in such and such a way, in a certain time, and that humans happened in certain times is such and such a way and the sequence of events unfolded like this….etc.
Well, now we know for a fact that certain things written about in the Bible, which is by all accounts, the “inerrant word of God” are not true. Is God lying? What is one to do?
If you look at all the evidence your senses and logic says quit clearly that this has to be a hoax. You cannot say on the one hand that the Bible is inerrant and on the other deny stuff that can be proven…even if only by circumstantial evidence, after all we send criminals to the gas chamber on this kind of evidence.
You write “…but you’re never going to find what you’re looking for with science, or history or anything like that.”
I think I did find the truth of the matter. Using science and human investigation I found out where the drift of evidence is blowing. I have had all of these things floating around in my brain (what little bit of it that is left anyway) and finally made the necessary connections that proved to…me…at least,what I have strongly suspected for 50 years.
I don’t expect any of this to move you, but know that I believe my search is over…I have found my truth finally.
Rock on Deacon…
Nor do I expect to move you, really. Looking at the Bible as strictly God’s history or as a literal guidebook to everything doesn’t work. I mean, right off, Psalms contains prayers, Kings and Chronicles are mostly histories, Job is an epic poem, really…and Hell, those are just Old Testament books and only a fraction of them.
The Bible does at times give history. It also gives us morality tales. And it gives us stories to illustrate God’s power in ways that people of past times would understand. It isn’t truly important whether God created the Earth in 7 literal days…the point was to show that God had a specific plan and purpose for the Earth, and that he is capable of such power.
God trusts in our ability to have faith if we try. He also trusts in our intellect. People study scriptures and people pursue science and I believe God expects us to be able to find ways to reconcile the two…to understand what is symbolic vs. what it more or less literal.
Was God supposed to write a Bible that would only be understood by people in modern times? Is God supposed to come down from on high to give up new editions of it? As I’ve noted before, God reaching down from the heavens, forcing us to acknowledge Him, destroys the whole issue of faith and makes us subjects and slaves. We then no longer have a choice to seek him our to love but have a choice of, “Oh, my, he really is there and now I know for sure…I must obey or be punished!” How can we follow his way willingly and with love if we have inerrant proof that he exists and will punish us for not doing so?
I know you’ll find as many flaws in that argument as I find in yours, but regardless…
…peace, dude 🙂
You know, I realize now that I didn’t much flesh out my end point about why God doesn’t just come down and show himself.
You look at the ancient Hebrews…He chose them to be his people because He had to start somewhere. They had evidence of him and they obeyed, out of expectation for reward and fear of punishment. When God wasn’t as obvious, they got slack.
If God just sits up there visibly and looks down at us waggling a finger, we will obey out of fear. Fear is real, but it isn’t sincere in the way that love is. Obeying and doing “right” out of love is more powerful and honest than trying to avoid punishment.
that’s what God wants of us. He doesn’t want us afraid and he doesn’t want us to ignore him. But to find that middle ground requires faith…there is no other way I can think of that would work.
Hi Deacon, thanks for writing.
You write:
“They had evidence of him and they obeyed, out of expectation for reward and fear of punishment. When God wasn’t as obvious, they got slack.”
Now this statement hits the nail on the head. I find that a people that have had first hand knowledge and physical proof that there is a real God looking down at them knowingly going against this God just impossible to believe.
Here they see the awesome power of the deity as he parts the sea and has a pillar of smoke and fire to lead them and sends down manna daily and yet at the first tiny sign of slackness on Gods part they start to worship a golden calf. Is this a reasonable response to this scenario?
To my mind this is the response of a people that hadn’t seen any manifestations of a supernatural God. They were just following along with a rabbi’s exhortations.
If you look closely at Christianities setup you begin to see the machinations. You must have faith and believe what we say to you and not ask for proof, for if God showed himself then you would have follow out of fear and not by your own freewill. So by just this little bit semi-logic you make the flock afraid to question and make them amenable to instruction from the leaders of the flock.
A Christian congregation here in my town that I am familiar with, say to its members: don’t go looking on the internet for information about your faith because you can be led astray by apostate sites. They fear that Satan is out there lurking on the web ready to grab them and steal their souls.
The church doesn’t want its members to have much outside knowledge about religion, as this tends to disturb them and make them ask embarrassing questions of their minister. The Bible contains every thing they need to know is their mantra.
I continue to follow your blog with interest, as I like your attitude and intelligence. You are a fine writer…keep up the good work.
twom
I never underestimate the human capacity to act against its own self interests. I don’t think it’s unlikely or impossible that people would disobey a God they were fully aware of.
It’s just that I think those who obey under such circumstances aren’t doing so for the right reasons in most cases b/c the fear factor is set so high.
I mean, if God popped out of the clouds today, I don’t believe everyone would obey him. I don’t. I think some would claim it was an alien conspiracy. Some would say, “if he’s really the all powerful God, and he’s only showing up now, I don’t believe he’s all powerful.” Some would refuse to follow him because they would blame him for messes that people made and for not fixing everyting for him, and would sooner cast their lot with Satan figuring he’d give them credit for being of like mind.
I’m just saying that if God popped up suddenly, many, if not most, of the folks who did obey would be undergoing a reaction based on fear.
You see, both you and I understand where each of us is coming from; we simply are focusing on two different aspects of human personality and experience, and it’s not easy to “prove” which is more right or logical to conclude.
As for your other point, I welcome and encourage people to look outside Christianity. I despise it when Christians don’t know squat about things outside their belief sphere and criticize them.