Dear So And so,
I hope you are going to reply to my main message to you. I feel you owe it to me. However, I would not be surprised if you did not respond. I won't lose any sleep over no response from you, I can reassure you of this.
Do I sound slightly ticked-off in my original email to you that begins, "Let's get serious..."
I would hope you would be glad that I eventually did not accept the Christian belief system as fact. To be a sheep to the slaughter. I would also hope you would be glad that I am not happy at the people of my teenage years who had the guts to indoctrinate younger people like myself into believing something that has no basis in fact.
I have researched my entire life for answers to religion and god by using rational thought. In the 1980's I began to stop rationalizing why there are so many contractions in the Bible.
When I call Christians on the carpet concerning the disgusting and ridiculous laws of the Old Testament and the New Testament, Christians become offended that I question the "Mystery of God." They typically say we don't follow the Old Testament. And they rationalize verses which make no sense in the New Testament.
Yet Christians say a perfect god inspired the Old Testament and the New Testament. If god is perfect why would there be even one mistake or problem in his scriptures? Making excuses for an all power god as to why his scripture is a complete mess is Christian rationalization at its best.
Using the expression the "Mystery of God" (Or saying things like, "How can you question an all powerful God?" or "How can you question the mytery of God?") is a cop-out and a rationalization, also.
Why can't an all powerful god do something as simple as write a timeless scripture? Why can't an all powerful god write a scripture that is filled with moral and ethical wisdom and include a vast knowledge science for all people, which would apply to people living in any time period of human history? Why can't an all powerful god write a scripture that has complete continuity without any contradictions?
Why would an all powerful god have to inspire people to write his scripture? An all powerful god would not want his scripture to be polluted by his imperfect creatures, do I not speak the truth? An all powerful god would have written and published his scriptures by himself and given it to his people. All these things concerning "God's Scripture" would be child's play for an all powerful god who made the huge, huge universe our galaxy is part of.
I have refused to rationalize that which is not rational. I used to be a follower, not anymore.
This is my question to you. Would you rather associate with people who simply take a guess at life's big questions: Where did we come from? What happens when we die? (Want to know the answers to these questions? Answer: We don't know, yet.)
Do you want to associate yourself with people are simply pretending to be happy because you know an imaginary god, you pretend your imaginary god forgives you of your imaginary sin. Are you happy because you believe in an imaginary god who will give you an imaginary ever-lasting life after you die? And are you happy because you pretend that after you die, you will live in an imaginary place called heaven?
Or would you rather associate yourself with people who don't blindly follow others guesses but rationally inquire about the world we live in and takes the history of humankind seriously. Would you not rather associate yourself with people who see the similarity between ancient mythology and ancient religions and call a spade a spade. That all religions are simply ancient guesses by primitive men to try to explain the world around them.
The masses now have the education and fortitude to search for and find the answers to the guesses of ancient primitive men concerning their mythology, rituals, religions and gods.
"Increasingly, world civilization is becoming secular; that is, it emphasizes worldly rather than religious values. This is especially true of Europe, which is widely considered post-religious and post-Christian (though with a small Islamic minority). Secularist winds are also blowing strong in Asia, notably in Japan and China." —Free Inquiry, April / May 2009
Volume 29 Number 3, page 6, A Short Primer on Secular Ethics, by Paul Kurtz.
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=kurtz_29_3_2
Mike
After this email, he responded and said he is on the road and will respond to me. Time will only tell.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
An email to a former Christian leader who Facebooked me this month.
Dear So And So,
Let's get serious. I've been studying the Bible since I was fifteen. Questioning, yes, god-forbid, questioning why are there so many religions and gods out there. This is what I have found.
All religions are man-made. Sin is man-made. There is no such thing as a God and no such thing as sin. Day/Night. Good/Evil. Day/Night. God/Satan. Day/Night. Heaven/Hell. Ancient guesses by primitive men trying to explain the world we live in.
Ancient primitive men who were ignorant of the science we have today, (since they did not have modern science to explain the world around them) were scribes and these "religious" people created religions, including the Bible, to explain what science could not. To explain the world around them. To give a so-called purpose for living and in addition, they added their own bigotry, intolerance and hate to their texts.
Adding bigotry, intolerance of others and hatred to a "spiritual" text is not inspired from an all powerful god who knows the past, present and future. An all powerful god who knows the future would one day know the masses would learn to read and know the masses would easily recognize the lack of wisdom, a book that is not timeless and a book that lacks continuity and has inconsistencies.
Faith is simply a guess. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did not even know Christ. They wrote about Christ some 30 years after Christ died. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John used "god-like" characteristics from Greek and Egyptian mythology (and who knows what other mythology they used from the Middle East) to create Christ's "god" characteristics.
There are many messiah/saviors who lived before Christ--who have the same characteristics of Christ.
There is an Egyptian God called Horus. He lived around 3000 B.C. There are approximately thirty (30) characteristics that are the same between Horus and Christ, such as: born of a virgin, born in late December, birth announcement by angels, an attempt to murder him as a baby, no information between 12 and 30 years of age, baptized at 30, had twelve disciples, walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, death by crucifixion, descended into hell for three days and resurrected after three days. These are some of the characteristics that both Horus (Egyptian Sun God who lived in 3000 B.C.) and Christ (1-33 A.D.).
Here are more messiah/saviors who were written about before Christ lived:
Attis, Greece, 1200 BC
Born of a virgin
Born on Dec 25th
Crucified
Dead for 3 days
Resurrected
Mithra, Persia, 1200 BC
Born of a virgin
born on Dec 25th
had 12 disciples
performed miracles
dead for three days
resurrected
Sunday was the worship day
known as the Truth, the life
Krishna, India, 900 BC
Born of a virgin
Born on Dec 25th
Start in the East
Performed Miracles
Crucified
Resurrected
Dionysus (Greek god of wine.)
Born of a virgin
born on Dec 25
performed miracles
was a traveling teacher
Known as the King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega
Crucified
Resurrected
Need more messiah/saviors who had similiar characteristics of Christ who also lived before Christ?
Chishna of Hindostan
Budha Sakia of India
Salivahana of Bermuda
Zulis (or Zhule), Osiris, Orus of Egypt
Odin of the Scandinavians
Crite of Chaldea
Zoroaster and Mithra of Persia
Baal and Taut (The only begotten of God) of Phoenecia
Indra of Tibet
Bali of Afghanistan
Jao of Nepal
Wittoba of the Bilingonese
Thammuz of Syria
Atys of Phrygia
Xamolxis of Thrace
Zoar of the Bonzes
Adad of Assyria
Deva Tat and Sammonocadam of Siam
Alcides of Thebes
Mikado of the Sintoos
Beddru of Japan
Hesus (or Eros) and Bremrillah of the Druids
Thor (Son of Odin) of the Gauls
Cadmus of Greece
Hil and Feta of the Mandaites
Gentaut and Quexalcote of Mexico
Universal Monarch of the Sibyls
Ischy of the island of the Formosa
Divine Teacher of Plato
Holy One of Xaca
Fohi and Tien of China
Adonis (Son of the virgin Io) of Greece
Ixion and Quirinus of Rome
Prometheus of Caucasus
Mohamud (or Mahomet) of Arabia
You believe in prayer, right? Matthew 18:19 (New International Version), Christ said, 19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."
Okay Don, get one thousand (1,000) born-again Christians (who just asked to be forgiven) and get one (1) person who has quantity one (1) pinky finger that was amputated.
Now, have all 1,000 Christians pray that the finger on this amputee be healed. Do you know why the amputee will not be healed? Christian answer: I have to make an excuse as to why my all powerful god can't do something as simple as heal an amputated limb. Realist answer: God is imaginary.
I can't believe you have gone all these years and not searched for the real truth about the world we live in. If I said to you, go 90 mph in your car and hit a wall and you won't be hurt, you'd say, forget it, you have to prove it to me.
Now you say, based on a guess, that you know the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE? Are you nuts?
"Religion is the one area of our discourse where it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about." -Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, 2007, page 67.
So And So, you are already an atheist to all religions other than your own. You don't believe in the "Allah" as God (Islam) or Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism or Taoism, right? You are an atheist to all these other faiths, except your own. I am simply an atheist to all religions.
It's time to get serious and take a realistic look at the false testimony of your so-called god and the false testimony of all religions who proclaim to know or have knowledge of any god.
If there was an all powerful god he/she would not be afraid to show him/herself. Let's be honest with each other on this point.
It's time to see the real truth about religion. Please take a look at these www.youtube.com videos, the websites listed below. Also, I'd recommend you read the book listed below also.
www.youtube.com videos:
10 questions that every intelligent Christian must answer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDHJ4ztnldQ
Prove to yourself that Jesus is imaginary in less than 5 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUj8hg5CoSw
Proving that prayer is superstition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH0rFZIqo8A
The best optical illusion in the world! (About the superstition of prayer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ILZAaAMI
Websites:
http://www.godisimaginary.com
http://www.whywontgodhealamputees.com
Book:
-"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris, 2007, New York: Alfred A Knopf
I think it's time to seriously take a look at the real truth about all religions, don't you think?
Sincerely,
Mike
Let's get serious. I've been studying the Bible since I was fifteen. Questioning, yes, god-forbid, questioning why are there so many religions and gods out there. This is what I have found.
All religions are man-made. Sin is man-made. There is no such thing as a God and no such thing as sin. Day/Night. Good/Evil. Day/Night. God/Satan. Day/Night. Heaven/Hell. Ancient guesses by primitive men trying to explain the world we live in.
Ancient primitive men who were ignorant of the science we have today, (since they did not have modern science to explain the world around them) were scribes and these "religious" people created religions, including the Bible, to explain what science could not. To explain the world around them. To give a so-called purpose for living and in addition, they added their own bigotry, intolerance and hate to their texts.
Adding bigotry, intolerance of others and hatred to a "spiritual" text is not inspired from an all powerful god who knows the past, present and future. An all powerful god who knows the future would one day know the masses would learn to read and know the masses would easily recognize the lack of wisdom, a book that is not timeless and a book that lacks continuity and has inconsistencies.
Faith is simply a guess. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did not even know Christ. They wrote about Christ some 30 years after Christ died. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John used "god-like" characteristics from Greek and Egyptian mythology (and who knows what other mythology they used from the Middle East) to create Christ's "god" characteristics.
There are many messiah/saviors who lived before Christ--who have the same characteristics of Christ.
There is an Egyptian God called Horus. He lived around 3000 B.C. There are approximately thirty (30) characteristics that are the same between Horus and Christ, such as: born of a virgin, born in late December, birth announcement by angels, an attempt to murder him as a baby, no information between 12 and 30 years of age, baptized at 30, had twelve disciples, walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, death by crucifixion, descended into hell for three days and resurrected after three days. These are some of the characteristics that both Horus (Egyptian Sun God who lived in 3000 B.C.) and Christ (1-33 A.D.).
Here are more messiah/saviors who were written about before Christ lived:
Attis, Greece, 1200 BC
Born of a virgin
Born on Dec 25th
Crucified
Dead for 3 days
Resurrected
Mithra, Persia, 1200 BC
Born of a virgin
born on Dec 25th
had 12 disciples
performed miracles
dead for three days
resurrected
Sunday was the worship day
known as the Truth, the life
Krishna, India, 900 BC
Born of a virgin
Born on Dec 25th
Start in the East
Performed Miracles
Crucified
Resurrected
Dionysus (Greek god of wine.)
Born of a virgin
born on Dec 25
performed miracles
was a traveling teacher
Known as the King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega
Crucified
Resurrected
Need more messiah/saviors who had similiar characteristics of Christ who also lived before Christ?
Chishna of Hindostan
Budha Sakia of India
Salivahana of Bermuda
Zulis (or Zhule), Osiris, Orus of Egypt
Odin of the Scandinavians
Crite of Chaldea
Zoroaster and Mithra of Persia
Baal and Taut (The only begotten of God) of Phoenecia
Indra of Tibet
Bali of Afghanistan
Jao of Nepal
Wittoba of the Bilingonese
Thammuz of Syria
Atys of Phrygia
Xamolxis of Thrace
Zoar of the Bonzes
Adad of Assyria
Deva Tat and Sammonocadam of Siam
Alcides of Thebes
Mikado of the Sintoos
Beddru of Japan
Hesus (or Eros) and Bremrillah of the Druids
Thor (Son of Odin) of the Gauls
Cadmus of Greece
Hil and Feta of the Mandaites
Gentaut and Quexalcote of Mexico
Universal Monarch of the Sibyls
Ischy of the island of the Formosa
Divine Teacher of Plato
Holy One of Xaca
Fohi and Tien of China
Adonis (Son of the virgin Io) of Greece
Ixion and Quirinus of Rome
Prometheus of Caucasus
Mohamud (or Mahomet) of Arabia
You believe in prayer, right? Matthew 18:19 (New International Version), Christ said, 19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven."
Okay Don, get one thousand (1,000) born-again Christians (who just asked to be forgiven) and get one (1) person who has quantity one (1) pinky finger that was amputated.
Now, have all 1,000 Christians pray that the finger on this amputee be healed. Do you know why the amputee will not be healed? Christian answer: I have to make an excuse as to why my all powerful god can't do something as simple as heal an amputated limb. Realist answer: God is imaginary.
I can't believe you have gone all these years and not searched for the real truth about the world we live in. If I said to you, go 90 mph in your car and hit a wall and you won't be hurt, you'd say, forget it, you have to prove it to me.
Now you say, based on a guess, that you know the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE? Are you nuts?
"Religion is the one area of our discourse where it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about." -Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, 2007, page 67.
So And So, you are already an atheist to all religions other than your own. You don't believe in the "Allah" as God (Islam) or Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism or Taoism, right? You are an atheist to all these other faiths, except your own. I am simply an atheist to all religions.
It's time to get serious and take a realistic look at the false testimony of your so-called god and the false testimony of all religions who proclaim to know or have knowledge of any god.
If there was an all powerful god he/she would not be afraid to show him/herself. Let's be honest with each other on this point.
It's time to see the real truth about religion. Please take a look at these www.youtube.com videos, the websites listed below. Also, I'd recommend you read the book listed below also.
www.youtube.com videos:
10 questions that every intelligent Christian must answer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDHJ4ztnldQ
Prove to yourself that Jesus is imaginary in less than 5 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUj8hg5CoSw
Proving that prayer is superstition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH0rFZIqo8A
The best optical illusion in the world! (About the superstition of prayer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ILZAaAMI
Websites:
http://www.godisimaginary.com
http://www.whywontgodhealamputees.com
Book:
-"Letter to a Christian Nation" by Sam Harris, 2007, New York: Alfred A Knopf
I think it's time to seriously take a look at the real truth about all religions, don't you think?
Sincerely,
Mike
Are the Ten Commandents the ultimate statement of morality? Nope.
“If you think that it would be impossible to improve upon the Ten Commandments as a statement of morality, you really owe it to yourself to read some other scriptures. Once again, we need look no further than the Jains: Mahavira, the Jain patriarch, surpassed morality of the Bible with a single sentence: “Do not injure, abuse, oppress, enslave, insult, torment, torture, or kill any creature or living being.”
Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible. It is impossible to behave this way be adhering to the principles of Jainism. How, then, can you argue that the Bible provides the clearest statement of morality the world has ever seen?” —Harris, Sam, 2006, "Letter to a Christian Nation," page 22, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a divison of Random House, Inc.
Imagine how different our world might be if the Bible contained this as its central precept. Christians have abused, oppressed, enslaved, insulted, tormented, tortured, and killed people in the name of God for centuries, on the basis of a theologically defensible reading of the Bible. It is impossible to behave this way be adhering to the principles of Jainism. How, then, can you argue that the Bible provides the clearest statement of morality the world has ever seen?” —Harris, Sam, 2006, "Letter to a Christian Nation," page 22, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a divison of Random House, Inc.
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