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Why the Christian God does not Exist
Why Believe in Jesus?
Who Cares What Jesus Would Do?
Imagine There is No Religion
The Civilized States of America and Jesusland
How not to be eaten by aliens
Fashionable People
There's Nowt as Queer as Folk
Palace Admits Prince Charles is Gay
Paedophilia is Not a Crime
The Future Does Not Suck
How to Win the Lottery without buying a ticket
Meatheads, Slobs and Pencil Necked Geeks
Is Equality Possible?
Circumcision
Does God Bless America?
Chick Food
Should Adultery be Illegal?
I have come to ask what its is about believing in something that you have no control over. Whether or not you can prove it or not. can you prove that Jesus didn't do those miracles. I am not trying to slander you. I am simply stating that sometimes things will not be explained. even though God has the power to make us all believe in whatever he wants. how would you like to have someone that you have absolute control over and not give them free will to do as they please. for when they truly do as you have asked wouldn't that please you more then them being a robot? that is what make faith so strong, for when when you believe without proof. in fair thinking who needed Jesus to come and die for our sins? no one did. God could have saved all of us and everyone would be fine and dandy. but if he did that what is the point in making us? it is said in the bible that if people will not call out to me then the rocks will. whether anyone believes or not that is a profound statement. I take it from some of your writings that you know about God, but do you realize what he is asking for? just like parents want a relationship with there children, he desires a relationship with all of us. thing is not all kids like or respect there parents and it tears them apart, that they cannot have a relatioship with them. I hope that you will respond to this I realize you are quite busy but I wish to discuss this more. thank you for your time. Victor W. Hausauer |
I can't prove that a miracle that supposedly happened last week did not happen. It is not the responsibility of those who deny that impossible things happened to prove their case. Miracles need evidence for anybody to take them seriously. I have seen no evidence at all that Jesus performed any miracles except for the accounts of the gospels. The gospels themselves show clear evidence of plagiarism (if I was a teacher I would be asking to see Matthew, Mark and Luke after class to discuss the matter) and also clear evidence of invention. As witness statements they leave a lot to be desired. They are obviously not what they pass themselves off as or what the church has made them out to be. They are not eye witnesses, disinterested observers or men of perfect character. They are cultists. I trust them to tell the truth as much as I trust any cult member, not very much at all.
Don't go and tell me to read the Bible, I have just read all four gospels back to back, I am not arguing from ignorance.
I have considered what I would do with godlike powers many times and the conclusion I come to is that the only thing a god could do and still remain moral and decent (still be proud to exist) is to create a universe and then go away. To go into the universe of your own creation is a recipe for disaster which will surely lead you into temptation to do something stupid or selfish. Judging people after their death is not justice. Punishing people for all eternity for a sin, any sin, is barbaric. No finite sin could possibly justify an infinite punishment. Even Hitler, Idi Amin and Pol Pot would not deserve infinite confinement let alone infinite torture. Keeping souls in either heaven or hell would be totally barbaric. In hell the torment would be sadistic infliction of pain via a body loaned for the purpose of being in pain, which is just sick. In heaven an infinity of existence as a fawning impotent minion surrounded by the souls of the pious would be worse. But I don't believe I have or am a soul and I have yet to see any evidence that people can exist or think in any form other than inside a functioning human body. When I get drunk there is no sober inner me. When the demented lose their minds there is no fully cognizant soul inside screaming to be allowed to get out. The soul is a fiction. A late addition to Hebrew mythology. Up until the book of Daniel there is not the slightest hint that the life of man is anything other than that which we can see: entirely contained in our meat bodies. Nobody in the time of David offered any sacrifices for the souls of their Hebrew ancestors because they knew just as clearly as I know that the dead are dead. Why would anybody believe anything else?
Who told you that faith was a virtue? Please examine that idea very clearly. It is toxic to reason.
Let me get this clear. Making a universe full of people without freewill would be a bad thing. Making a universe in which people were loved and forgiven would also be bad. So the only way not to have a bad universe is to let the people think they have killed you so that you can them forgive them for the sins they have committed and those they will commit, but only if they believe in you. That makes sense to you?
A god cannot be killed. If Jesus was God he could not die, all that could happen is that he go through a death charade. Gods can't be killed. Duh. How does sacrifice work? Please explain it to me. If you are a god how is somebody slicing the throat of a heifer, a turtle dove or their only son giving you something that you need? If you need to be fed blood or the stench of burning flesh in what way are you a good god? How is pretending to be killed yourself a sacrifice to yourself and why is that necessary to placate your own anger? Come on, you believe this shit, you explain it. Why if being rich is a sign of God's blessing (read the Old Testament, especially Job) do his people need to show their thanks by wasting the wealth he has given them and burning it up on an altar? Thanks for the new hamster you got me for my birthday, I've burnt it up, I knew you'd be pleased.
Have a look at the book of Numbers and read all the stuff about sacrificing animals. Does that not make you a little bit queasy? Doesn't it make you think that the Hebrews were a bunch of superstitious barbarians, every bit as barbaric and superstitious as your own ancestors? Why have you been duped into believing the superstitions of a foreign tribe rather than your own tribe's superstitions? Why do you feel a frisson of significance when you contemplate these people, other people's ignorant, savage and superstitious ancestors?
Why would the creator of a universe need people to believe in his hidden existence? Why would he speak to just one tribe and ignore all of the others? Why would he be jealous of alternative mythical gods? If he hid from the Jebusites and never spoke to them what right has he got to be pissed off that they don't call him by the right name or make the wrong kind of sacrifice? Why would the Jewish tribal god suddenly start taking an interest in gentiles just about the same time that Paul finds out that Jews don't like his Jesus is the Son of God story very much?
If God wants a relationship with us all why did he only speak to Jews? Come on. Explain that. Jesus was born a Jew, brought up a Jew, he was following a very inward-looking tribal religion, he didn't go out of his way to talk to gentiles although with magic powers there was no reason why he should not have done. Explain that. If Jesus was part of the trinity with the Holy Ghost he would have had the gift of speaking in tongues.
If God is our father and wants to have a relationship with us, that
is easy. He just needs to talk. He needs to treat us like adults not
children. He needs to stop this nonsense of hiding and then beating the
crap out of us when we're dead. He also needs to listen. He needs to
get off his cloud and come down and give us a clear consistent message.
If he's worried about his message being misinterpreted or causing too
much disruption by doing the whole aliens land on the White House lawn
stuff he could simply shut the churches and mosques who are getting it
wrong. Just imagine that: all around the world the key holders of temples,
mosques and churches shoo everybody out and lock the doors. All the monks
and nuns get changed into regular clothes. Tom Cruise and Madonna tell
the media they've given up their silly religion. The Pope retires to
Bavaria, taking the keys with him, nobody stops him. Religion just stops,
over a period of a couple of days all religious people around the world
just decide to go home and get on with their lives instead. The astrology columns don't appear in the newspapers as the editors decide not to bother.
Missionary schools decide to teach arithmetic and basic literacy instead.
Wouldn't that be fantastic? A real miracle. Then when nobody is tuned
into the wrong channel if there is a god (there would have to be to make
the world stop believing, that will never happen any other way) he could
then start to have a proper relationship with us. The end of religion
is the best miracle a god could perform, after that everyone would believe
and nobody would need faith.
--
Martin Willett
http://mwillett.org/