Godlessness

We can all agree that Greek, Roman, and other ancient extinct gods are nothing more than a humorous story that we point and laugh at. How so many people could believe that stars and planets were actually gods, and could dictate what happened on Earth. Since then, the term "Greek Theology" has been changed to "Greek Mythology", for it has been proven and is widely believed that no such gods exist. Both the Greeks and Romans had different names for their gods, and later the Romans took some of the Greek gods since they were better; they were all grouped and denied. A series of gods who were believed in by most religions at the time, were abandoned.

Afterward, another series of religions were created. They each had their own belief's on how the world worked, but all agreed that they came of one central god (again, with different names). These, however had their own books to spread the religion. Since my focus is on Christianity, I'll confine my story toward it.

The Christian god was first noted in the Book of Genesis, which is "the direct word of god" though written by man. Basically, some guy ran out and said, "Everyone listen! God has come to me in a vision, and told me to write this book. You too can have a copy for only $19.95 plus shipping and handling!" Okay, so the infomercial part probably didn't happen. Anyway, god's words were now on paper for all to learn. Fast forward a few years to "the virgin Mary", a woman who told a great story about how "an angel came from heaven, and told me I was to bear god's child" rather than confessing she had pre-marital sex. Thus, Jesus was born "of a virgin". After spending 20 some odd years of his mother telling him he was the son of god, Jesus believes so. One of my favorite stories is of Jesus restoring sight to a blind man.

Jesus walks up to an old beggar sitting by the street. He kneels down next to the man, and spits into some dirt, creating mud. He then smears the mud in the beggars eyes and the old man screams, "I'M BLIND! PLEASE HELP ME!" Jesus then tells the man to wash the mud from his eyes with water from a nearby stream. The man returns and exclaims, "You have cured me of blindness. You must be the son of god."

Another good one is when Jesus walks across water. I walk across water all the time. It's called a bridge. If that isn't good enough for you, I still walk on water all the time. Ever heard of ice? That's water buddy. For real, I'm not lying. I'll bet as Jesus walks across the ice, some fat guy broke the ice and fell in. Then it's a miracle. There are plenty of other "miracles of god" that are just as amusing, but I'm not going to get in to all of them.

Here's another thing I don't understand. God creates the world, universe, everything in it, including humans and all that in 7 days. If Adam and Eve are around then, when did the dinosaurs exist for centuries, and were after wiped out. All that came before Adam and Eve were around. Aside from that, if Adam and Eve were here on earth, knew god existed, why did they not tell all 600 or so kids they supposedly had to believe in him? There were the two of them who knew and conversed with god himself, and yet failed to convince their children to pass down that knowledge from generation to generation. After so many years there were hundreds of gods, from many different religions, when all their ancestors going back far enough were the direct creation of the one, Christian god.

Throughout history people have been brainwashed to the point that they have nothing but blind faith. At no point in their life do they even question anything about religion. I was born and raised by a catholic family. I was forced to attend church every sunday until I entered college. I am even friends with the priest. I've tried to figure out how all these people have been caught by what I believe is a tragic lie. Then it hit me. Like almost all catholics, they were born and raised into it. Forced to go to church, to got to church school, where they worked their way from baptism to confirmation. The catholic church has a perfect design to capture believers for many years to come. They mold children's minds, and teach them not to question, and not to actually think about what is said and what is happening. Better yet, the parents reinforce those ideals put forward by the church because they were brainwashed as children too. My mother and sister are perfect examples of this. My mother was raised much the same as I have been. Church was a commitment from birth, including church school as a child. In all her life, she has never questioned her faith. No matter what argument is put forth, no matter what is said, there is no thought. She ignores the question, and keeps on believing. Now, my sister went through the same thing. She has been going to church and church school from baptism to confirmation. She has since passed confirmation, and has no doubt in the existence of god. She is a strong believer in the catholic religion, and yet she knows almost nothing about the catholic religion. She is completely oblivious to any real text from the bible, and has no idea what I'm talking about when I argue against the existence of god.

There's a guy I used to work with, his name is Todd. Todd is another believer in god, however he only had one argument for the existence of god. His only line was "the bible says there will never be peace in the middle east. The proof is in the pudding!" Well, Todd, you're fucking retarded. because the real question is, will there ever truly be peace in the world at any point? The closest thing to true peace is Canada. They never get into any kind of international trouble, and the only thing keeping it from being labeled a truly peaceful place is the everyday crime. Todd says "there is peace right here in the U.S." No, actually the U.S. is in two wars right now. Just because the war isn't on American soil doesn't mean we are at peace. Even without the wars, there are thousands of murders, rapes, and robberies taking place daily. I wouldn't call that a peaceful nation. The day that nobody in the world is harmed in any way by another person is the day we have true peace. sadly, that day will never come.

Yet another thing; if god is up there, and has been forever, why doesn't he do something? If he is the omnipotent god he is believed to be, then why doesn't he show it? People pray for everything, but most of the time their prayers aren't answered. If this omnipotent god is up there, why does he kill so many innocent people? Natural disasters kill thousands, and he is the one who makes it happen. A big story breaks out, buried under the rubble people found a child alive after 4 days. A hundred thousand died, but that one is god's miracle. People die horrible deaths from diseases. God created those too. God created cancer, an incurable disease that kills almost everyone it touches, from the wicked to the kindest gentlest person you have ever met. God created cancer, and he gave it to millions of people. My grandmother died of cancer, and a good friends mother is currently battling cancer. She is one of the nicest people you have ever met, and she deserves to die of cancer? The answer is no. But hey, god's got a plan right? Just like the terrific planning he has for stillborn children. After a couple has a stillborn child they say "god planned on us getting through this" or "god didn't want to give her up yet, so he called her back." Wow. God had a plan for you to get over the stillborn child, but he had a terrible plan for that child. What is wrong with this picture? Yea sorry kid, you won't make it out of the womb alive. Too bad! There is a family that had a stillborn child, and it strengthened their faith in god. How does that make sense? Yea, sorry about giving you false hope in having a child, she won't live to see you. I personally was born 6 1/2 weeks early, and was taken straight to an incubator. I was given a 50/50 shot at life. My parents faith was strengthened when I came through alive. I wonder, had I died would they feel the same way?

I was forced to go to church weekly by my mom, in hopes that one day I would "come back" to god and believe whole hearted. listen, the only way I will ever believe god exists would be if god himself came down from heaven, walked across a lake that wasn't frozen, and gave me a swift kick in the balls. Then yell, "I EXIST ASSHOLE!" turn around, walk back across that lake, and then fly back up to heaven. Then, once I have made sure it wasn't some Hollywood scam, I might believe in god. Aside from that, it won't happen until I die and see him for myself. Just to let you all know, I'm faithful that neither will happen.

Now, I know this hasn't convinced all of you to become atheist, but I do hope that you now question your faith. I would rather have you think and believe than thoughtlessly submit to either belief or atheism.

The Bible: A Cultural Myth

As an atheist I think the bible is fictitious. Fictitious because the bible describes a spiritual side to reality which does not exit and does not accurately describe historical occurrences (as far as I know). However, I would proclaim that the bible is ‘based on a true story’. That true story is a tale of a culture and of history. The Old Testament describes many things like the tower of Babel which can be defended as historically existing. However, the Old Testament was passed down via word of mouth for thousands of years and the stories are exaggerated and warped versions loosely based on the true tale. The Hebrews originated from nomadic tribes of which many were enslaved to different cultures or merchants and saw much of Mesopotamia and northern Egypt. Many historians think when the Hebrews arrived in Babylon the great tower already lay in ruins. Babylon was the trading hub of Mesopotamia so many cultures and many languages came together there. Hence the Hebrews witnessed diverse languages and remnants of a great tower. Over generations they formed the tale which wound up in the bible to explain the tower of Babel. In my opinion a majority of the Old Testament is composed in similar fashion. There are also tales such as the great flood, which seem to be based on other myths, in this case The Epic of Gilgamesh.

The bible is a novel text for portraying a cultures world view and assimilation of ideas from other interacting, ancient cultures. Reading through the bible we can see a progression of the Israelites’ culture. Their way of life, laws, morals, and world view are all catalogued by the bible. Studying the personality of God in the bible reveals a change in the Israelites’ attitude and morality. The bible starts with a jealous, powerful, spiteful god. His morals seem backwards to the modern Western world, but coincide with the older eye for an eye philosophy. Many of God’s punishments are stoning to death. The early God does not appear omniscient and behaves like an emotionally unstable pre-teen. As the bible progresses we see God slowly change into a more forgiving, caring entity. In the New Testament the Israelites in ancient Rome have a different sense of justice and morality than their Hebrew ancestors. God begins to encompass the idea loving one another and being humane instead of being obsessed with rules involving worshiping himself. As man’s morality and culture changed so did their description of God. A long essay could be written on this topic, but the important point is that God changes and does so due to changing cultures. If God was perfect, omniscient, omnipotent, and helped dictate the bible he would be a stable character and would have a static morality – likely not mirroring that of his followers. Instead we see an embodiment of cultural values that changes through the exaggerated collection of tales we call the bible.

I am not aware of any other text which provides such a detailed an interesting view of the dynamic nature of human culture. If one were to follow up the bible with current religious writings he would find God has again changed his morality and his personality. Interesting.