Be a Good Christian: Kill Your Children?

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction; jealous and proud of it; petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sado-masochictic, caprciously malevolent bully.” – Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

There is no disagreement that the Bible is a “Book of Laws;” an outline for the moral code that Christians are to live their lives by, or they risk eternal damnation in the depths of the Biblical Hell.  At its core, whether one takes a literalist view of the Bible or not, it’s further agreed that it contains the solemn word of God as told through God, Jesus Christ, or His Prophets.

Further, there can be no disagreement about which parts of the Bible any follower of the Christian mythology must base their life on; the God of the Bible makes it quite clear on several occasions.  The “cherry-picking” the Bible is one of the most frustrating conversation I get into with Bible defenders, and especially with those who’ve never actually read the Bible (I’ve seen statistics that less than 10% of Christians have actually read the Bible.)  I chose to read the Bible when I was questioning my Roman Catholic upbringing, hoping to gain clarity and strengthen my beliefs.  I had absolutely no idea what I would discover, and I firmly believe that if that 90% of Christians who haven’t read the Bible actually read it, they would be as shocked and appalled as much as I was.  I didn’t set out to be in the position I am now, of feeling the need to at least speak the truth of what I’ve found.

One example, quite early in God’s teachings (God of the Christian Bible), is when He spoke through one of His most famous prophets; Moses:

Deuteronomy 5:32 (New Living Translation)

32 So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail.

So with this common ground and agreement about the basic, undisputed truths regarding the nature and purpose of the Bible, let’s begin.  It’s from these facts, taken from the Bible’s own passages that Christianity reveals itself as a religion of heinous cruelty and violence against all of humanity, with followers unwittingly forced by their God into being hypocrites and murderers, as they worship one of the most brutal, vengeful, wrathful mass murderer humans have ever known.

Being raised a Catholic, I wanted to read the contract before I signed the rest of my life away to it: I wanted to take comfort that the God I was following was a kind, loving, and compassionate Being, who held great reverence for His creation and his children; a wise and tolerant Creator who understood more about human nature than I could ever hope to, shining the light of truth within me, inspiring me to live a life that is just and moral and good.

So I decided to do what most Christians reportedly have never done; I read the Bible, cover to cover.  I certainly found answers, but not the ones I ever dreamed I would find: There were countless passages of violence, murder, revenge, anger, rape, the taking of virgins and killings of first-borns, massacres, deceptions, beheadings, plagues, dismemberment and human sacrifice that were all ordered, carried out by, or condoned by a God that possessed anger so vast and destructive that entire races were condemned to fates worse than death.  Parents saw their children killed or torn from their pregnant wife’s womb, husbands watched their daughters get carried off to be sold to the highest bidder, hands and feet were cut off, followers had their God behead their own people as he put those heads on stakes for all to see, as entire races and/or cultures were destroyed out of anger by fire, plagues, floods, and countless other crimes against humanity.

If this were the example followers were to base their lives on, started to research what the rules of conduct were that this God instructed His followers to live by. Most followers are familiar with only the “G-rated” version of the 10 Commandments; the “Hollywood” version of Christianity that the leaders of this religion would like you to believe, but this is not the true God of the Bible.  The God of the Bible, in no uncertain terms, instructed parents to kill any child who disobeyed or rebelled, took no exception when fathers took on many wives, gave men virgins as spoils of war (32,000 of them in one war alone), and fathers were given permission to sell daughters into slavery to pay debts without any repercussions.

I couldn’t help wondering if I had some biased and bizarre translation of the Bible, peddled by some vast conspiracy trying to discredit my God and the religion that was pumped into me almost daily most of my early, impressionable years.  So, I bought different versions and compared the passages.  But, the truth was vividly clear:  tales of atrocities and cruelty to both humans and animals on a scale larger than my brain could comprehend formed the landscape and framework of the Bible, vastly outnumbering a few scattered tales of peace, love, and hope.

A light went on in my brain and has never gone out since.  I felt sick, dirty; I felt deceived and an unwitting accomplice to some of the most inhuman atrocities ever committed.  And to make matters worse; none were the fallible human actions of some rogue dictator or some boy-loving German Roman Catholic with a funny moustache; they were all a result of the God described in vivid detail within the pages of the Bible.  I think Thomas Paine put it quite chillingly eloquent:

“Whenever we read … the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize humankind. And, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.” – Thomas Paine

For me, I was left with just one overwhelming question:  How could anyone, with even the slightest glimmer of sensibility, after reading the Bible, ever make the conscious decision to not only listen to and believe, but structure one’s entire life around this belief system?

It simply didn’t make sense that anyone could read the contents of the Bible and have even the slightest inclination to be a part of a religion that holds such obvious contempt for humans.  In fact, humans were given dominion over animals, but no animals (except the ones God ordered to have the “tendon of Achilles” of captured horses to be severed) ever suffered the brutal fates that hundreds of thousands of our fellow humans suffered at the hands of their God.

My answer was found in a simple statistic:  As i mentioned earlier, most of those who claim to be Christians reportedly have never read the Bible, and out of that massive percentage, they are only taught an extraordinarily small percentage of the stories that their clergy has chosen to share with them, and out of that already miniscule percentage, most of the stories that are relayed are from the New Testament rather than the Old Testament.

Biblical Engagement Problems

In an attempt to circumvent this serious issue, there are some to try to argue that once Jesus walked the Earth, it nullified the laws of the Old Testament.  But, when looking to the New Testament, we see several passages reinforcing the fact that the Old Testament is the Word of God and to be followed to the letter to the ends of the Earth.  One is found in Matthew:

Matthew 5:17-19 (New International Version)

17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

For clarity, “The Law” is in reference to the Old Testament, so the argument of the Old Testament being invalid itself is invalid from the start.  So, let’s move forward.

Another common argument is that kind of violence only exists in the Old Testament, but that also is not true.  Look to Matthew in the New Testament to negate this argument:

Matthew 15:3-4 (King James Version)

3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ [a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

Taken as the Law is required to be taken, to be a good Christian, one must then kill any child who gets unruly or disobeys.  And none of this would seem quite as serious to me if it were an isolated example from some random corner of the Bible, but it’s not.  It’s one instance of many that detail a code of conduct that involves these kinds of atrocities.  Knowing this, I can’t help wondering how the God of the Bible has risen to the status He has.

Whenever I have posed these kinds of questions to those who claim to be followers of Jesus or the Bible, have only offered me a singular answer:

“I’d have to speak with [enter clergyperson here] about that.”

The bottom line is that Christians simply can’t have it both ways; it is made clear on numerous occasions throughout the Bible that it’s “all or nothing” and if one chooses “some,” serious repercussions will follow, including eternal damnation.

So if one is about to choose to be a Christian, which comes with the implicit task of spreading the Word of God to as many as possible, there can be no argument that one must first get to know, at least in broad strokes, the essence of the religion, its belief system, and the true nature of its intent as well as the intent of the God described within the pages of the Bible?  It seems odd to me that followers of the Bible have typically have spent more time researching what car they’re going to purchase than they’ve spent researching the Bible (which for me was a 70 hour, extremely tedious and laborious task that felt like Hell on Earth).

This is why it comes as no surprise to me that as the information superhighway of the internet has spread to every corner of the world, membership in the Christian faith has dropped more 10% recently, and is still dropping.  According to present statistics, at the present rate, Methodists won’t have any followers left by 2037.

So, when I hear reports of priests molesting boys, going to Alcoholics Anonymous, stealing money from their own congregations; I wouldn’t expect anything different from them now that I too have read and understand the Bible.  And what often surprises me is that there have been so few stonings or similar tasks one is saddled with when taking on the position as a mouthpiece for the God in the Bible.

Once one actually takes a look into the messages of the Bible, it’s frightening the amount of murdering, raping, and pillaging that goes on, and not just in the name of the Bible God, but ordered by the Bible God whenever His feathers get ruffled.  Entire nations die, and often in the most vile, inhuman, and tortuous of ways, yet Christians choose to ignore these basic truths, perhaps because by being a part of this religion, they are accomplices to the most unthinkable crimes committed.

And yes, these are incredibly harsh words, but I wouldn’t even think to say them if I didn’t have large tracts of an entire book that vehemently claims to be the Word of God to back it up.  Below are a select few passages supporting my statement, and I would lay down all the money I have in the world that most Christians who claim to follow the Word of God, don’t actually know what that Word truly is.

And this is where a common argument defending the atrocities in the Bible often appears.  It goes something like; “God was waging war to protect His people” or “God only killed those who were not righteous.”  These arguments are intended to give the God of the Bible justification for killing millions, often in such heinous ways, but this killing also included thousands of children, at a minimum.

The main problem with the first argument, is that God’s killing wasn’t limited to the times he was waging war or in an attempt to protect His own people; his killing sprees went far beyond righteous preservation as outlined below:

Numbers 11:1

11:1 And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.

And again, this is but one example of countless, of the God of the Bible getting angry at His people and destroying them out of anger alone.  (For the curious; read God’s Position on Burning People to Death to find out more.)

The second argument states that all humans, including babies (born or unborn) were no longer “righteous” in God’s eyes, and therefore, when He chose to kill His own people through various means such as plagues or the Great Flood (which killed unborn babies, of course, as well as newborns, children, and every other human on the planet, including His own people), it was justified.

And this is where I fall silent, believing there has to be some way to get through to those who choose to use this argument as a valid way to defend the Bible.  We, as humans can’t kill unborn babies, but the God of the Bible has the right to do it whenever he chooses, and it’s justified because He knows right from wrong.

I can’t help wondering what it takes to take a step back and question such a supposed God.  To me (and call me crazy, but) a God who kills the unborn because they are not “righteous,” who chooses to burn people to death, to string up horses (how can animals not be “righteous?”), to decapitate His own people, to simply destroy every last living creature on Earth because He was displeased”¦is there any chance that maybe this isn’t actually the work of God but of the Devil?

Could the Devil be the one who is actually in control of the world and the words of the Bible, tricking us all into believing that all of the heinous atrocities that were committed in the Bible are justifiable in some way?  What if we’ve all been fooled this entire time, and the Devil has the true God locked in some Eternal Hell, hoping that we, as His people come to our senses, that we finally take a look inside our hearts as informed, intelligent beings, and finally REJECT the Bible and all it espouses, choosing instead to live truly righteous lives, caring for our fellow humans, choosing compassion, love, and tolerance rather than hate, destruction, and anger instead?

The Devil would have no quarter, he’d be powerless, and we could finally greet our God with pure hearts and the knowledge that we saw through all these atrocities, that we have risen above as a people, and that we have seen the light, embracing a morality that includes all humans instead of just a chosen few.

And yes, I’m being a bit extreme to make a point, but the point still remains:  If we look closely at the true essence of the Bible, if we empower ourselves by reading the entire book with an open mind and an open heart, which will allow us to come from a position of power instead of blind faith, if we look inside our hearts and compare what we find against the words of the Bible, would there be a single one of us who wouldn’t at least question the validity of at least some of the acts described in such vivid detail in the Bible?

And if one falls into question, all must fall into question, and this is where the entire system starts to crumble.  We can deny the truth for a time, but I have great faith in humanity and its inherent goodness as a whole, and firmly believe that if Christians actually read their own Book of Law (the Bible), that they would be as horrified as I was when I first made my frightening journey through a book that left me with no option but to run as far as possible from what was drilled into my head the first 18 years of my life.

And actually, never have I found a being to be less “God-like” (at least from my understanding of what a God might be like) than the God depicted in the Bible.  And this is the part that is so difficult to both accept and simply wrap my head around.  It’s not that these passages are hidden, they’re not some wild translation by some obscure scholar; these passages are there, and in great number, for anyone to simply discover for themselves if they have the time, desire, and open mind enough to do it.

To me, questioning is not only in our nature, but our duty.  To deny ourselves that right is to deny ourselves our humanness.  And to me, this is one of the greatest tragedies of organized religion:   We are taught to deny that which makes us most human, regardless of the religion.  I have an extremely deep and personal connection to my own personal Divine, I live by my own Golden Rule of “Treat others as myself,” and I believe that we best serve our Creator by fully realizing our own potential: by living as awake, alive, and as self-aware as possible, and that ultimately, the God that created this reality is within us because He/She IS us.

My point in writing this dense and lengthy article is in the hope that someone who may not have otherwise, might open their mind to the extraordinary and difficult truths that will undoubtedly shake entire foundations.  Self-awareness, questioning that which we have been brainwashed into believing is the truth, and finding what is true to each of us, to me, is one of the greatest gifts we have been given as humans.  Doing so, by default, results in one taking a great leap closer to God.

And this is what touches me deeper than any of the other controversy that inevitably arises when people who have based their entire lives on a delusion:  If God were so powerful, if he had just one loving bone in his ethereal body, if he had just one drop of compassion anywhere within him, even if any of the many murders could be justified in some way, why did he always resort to such macabre methods of dispatching any of his perceived enemies?

Without counting the Great Flood, while accounting for the argument that “numbers are the easiest thing to mistranslate” in relation to the numbers of deaths that the God of the Bible is responsible for, it makes that God of the Bible the most successful mass murderer in our known history.  No matter the reason for the murders of unborn children, first-born children, babies, or humans in general; did every one of them deserve the heinous and painful deaths that were dispatched upon them?

Christians argue that unborn babies don’t have a voice of their own, they don’t yet have anything other than the “Breath of God” within them, yet every time they defend the Bible, they are defending the God of the Bible killing unborn children.  And there’s no arguing out of that simple fact; if one defends the Bible, the God of the Bible states that it must be the whole of the Bible, as the entire Bible makes up the whole of the Law.

I have included a brief snippet of a few of the atrocities of the Bible below.  There are many far more complete lists available, and one can make their own list by simply sitting down and reading the Bible”¦

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Genesis 3:16 (King James Version)

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

GOD THE SADIST: God clearly condones pain, including during childbirth.  This passage has often been used to prevent women from using anesthetic during childbirth

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Genesis 36:6 (King James Version)

6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.

GOD THE POLYGAMIST: God condones polygamy, plain and simple.  This is one example of a great number of passages that speak of multiple wives; a practice that was common in that time.

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Exodus 21:7-11 (King James Version)

7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

– GOD THE SLAVE TRADER: God said that it’s O.K. for daughters to be sold into slavery to pay for a debt, and that they shall be treated just as other slaves.

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2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 (King James Version)

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

– GOD THE DECEIVER: God was knowingly deceptive to have a reason to condemn those he saw as wicked.

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Ezekiel 20:25-26

25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

– GOD THE ANGRY TYRANT: More evidence of an angry, deceptive god.

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Numbers 25:1-10 (King James Version)

4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

– GOD THE PERPETRATOR OF GENOCIDE: A God so angry that he killed 24,000 Israelites (his own people) because the men started “having sex with the Moabite women,” ordering the head of the men to be placed onto stakes and put on display.

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Numbers 31: 9-10, 14, 29-30 (Massacre of the Midianites)

9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. 10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

– GOD THE PILLAGER: A God who condones burning entire cities and then gifting half to the victors as spoils of war

14 But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

– GOD THE WOMAN AND CHILD MURDERER: And His chosen representative (Moses) was furious that the Israeli Army spared the lives of the women and children.  So, he ordered them to kill all the women and children, keeping the 32,000 virgins for themselves.

29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD. 30 And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.

– GOD THE ENGINEER OF MASSACRES: This is one of MANY massacres, which include Amorites, Bashanites, Aradites

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Deuteronomy 20: 13-14 & 16 (King James Version)

13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. 16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

– GOD THE PLUNDERER: God is commanding that all males be killed and that women, children, cattle, and anything else are spoils of war.  Eek.

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Joshua 11:6 (King James Version)

6 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.

– GOD THE ANIMAL TORTURER: A God so cruel that he even tortures animals for no reason whatsoever. (Hough means this: to hamstring, to sever the “tendon of Achilles” of the hinder legs of captured horses – an extremely cruel and painful procedure)

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Acts 13:22 (King James Version)

22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.

2 Samuel 8:14 (King James Version)

14 And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

– GOD THE DEVIL?: This is referring to King David who is responsible for at least 100,000 murders, which included (but certainly not limited to) beheadings, cutting off the hands and feet of some of those he’s slain, hamstringing horses, and so on.  Yes, God made himself David’s personal guardian, He assured David victory wherever he went so He could continue the atrocities whenever he wished, and clearly stated the David was a man after His own heart.

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2 Kings 2:24 (King James Version)

24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

– GOD THE CHILD-KILLER: God again condoned the killing of children.  (http://bible.cc/2_kings/2-24.htm) Multiple translations translate this line into “mauled 42 children” or “put forty-two children to death,” but the message remained the same.; kids were killed for making fun of a bald-headed man.

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2 Kings 10:19 (King James Version)

19 Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.

– GOD THE LIAR: God used deception again to trick an entire congregation of Ball worshippers into getting brutally massacred.

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Isaiah 13 (King James Version)

15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

– GOD THE CHILD-KILLER AND RAPIST: More child killing and raping of women condoned by an angry, vengeful, and cruel God.

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Hosea 13:16 (King James Version)

16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

– GOD THE BABY-TORTURER: God orders babies to be ripped apart, and if that weren’t enough, he orders any pregnant women to be torn to pieces as well.

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Mark 16:17-18 (King James Version)

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

– GOD THE LIAR: Not true and many people have died believing this statement.  The evidence mounts.

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I’m not altering any words, I’m not making up any of the translations, and I’m not taking any of the passages out of context.  I am simply using just a few of the countless examples of the methods the God of the Bible employed to dispatch those he’s upset with, in hopes of shining a little light in a very dark and highly controversial place.  After making my way through the Bible, I no longer wonder that so many atrocities in the name of this God have been committed and are still being committed; followers are simply following the truths and traditions of the Bible, believing they are carrying out the Word of God.

From the Inquisition to the Crusades, to unfortunately all too-common stories of child molestation by Catholic Priests, to condoned genocide through the Vatican’s banning the use of condoms even if to stem the spread of deadly diseases (plagues), to the growing number of TV Evangelist scandals, to priests revealing they’re gay, to continued wars in the name of the God of the Bible”¦millions still desperately cling to their beliefs at all costs.

But who can blame them?  If one has based an entire life on a belief system, if one has spent countless hours trying to do what one believed was the necessary path to Salvation, and one subsequently found out that this belief was false”¦wow.  It would invalidate entire lives, it would seem to make lifetimes meaningless, often for many generations, it would upset the balance of power, if would cause grief and suffering on a level that is difficult to comprehend.  As a result, most resort to one of the mist basic of human reactions: Denial.

And that denial takes many forms; to believing even more vehemently in their religion, in getting outwardly violent at anyone who challenges them, to quietly burying the truth so deeply inside so as to not upset the order of things.  When I presented these facts to my mom (it was an extremely difficult decision, and the only way I could justify doing it, was to arm myself with only the facts, leaving personal bias and opinion out of the equation, letting the Bible speak for itself) she simply said this: “Keith, what am I supposed to do about it and what effect can I let it have on my life, even if I heard and believed what you were saying?”

She didn’t want to upset the balance, she knew that even if family members (devout Roman Catholics) were presented with the facts, that they would most-likely choose to keep believing what they believe, labeling her and I as the “troublemakers” or “crazy” or whatever other label they needed to put on us so that they could continue the lives of blissful ignorance they were accustomed to.

Many have already armed and empowered themselves with the truth, with the courage to take a step back and look inside their own hearts, realizing that they’ve been tricked and lied to by an intolerant religion with a history of violence that far surpasses any other.  All of this is simply another drop in the bucket to add another voice to perhaps the greatest debate we can have as humans, and it started because of one simple human act:  I decided to seek the truth for myself.

Little did I know what I was in for, but one thing is certain above all else:  Never have a felt closer to God, never have I felt more awake and self-aware, never have I felt more compassion for those around me, and never has the fire burned so deeply inside me to try to shine as brightly as I can, hoping that, in some small way, it will give others the courage to simply question that which they have been told is true.  If not, despair and hopelessness is the only alternative, as the truth gets buried deep within ourselves, manifesting as all the grief and anger and horrors that we still see on a daily basis on both a grand scale.

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Passages are taken from http://www.biblegateway.com; a foremost and accepted repository of all known Bible versions and interpretations.

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14 Comments

  • Keith Cleversley
    March 9, 2015 at 2:36 pm 

    John,

    I’d love a link to the animations you speak of in your comment!

    Keith

  • Keith Cleversley
    March 9, 2015 at 2:33 pm 

    Allan,

    You continue to astound me with your writing. I’d love to link back to you and to read more of your work. Where can I find you?

    Sincerely,
    Keith

  • Allan T DInegar
    January 9, 2013 at 10:36 pm 

    Thank you for sharing about your realizing a hard truth; ralising that the God of Catholicism is actually not God at all! Actually, God got a bad rap from those that twisted he truth to serve their own worldly agenda. I also have worked through putting this lie behind me. I have learned that God supports any questions anyone might have! Unconditional love is what the God I have discovered within offers to all; not just Jews or so called Christians! What is a Christian?

    The actual name of Jesus was Yeshua ben Joseph. He never referred to himself as the only son of God. This cme about in 325AD when the Emperor Cnstantine declared Jesus as “The only begotten son of God.” One religion throughout the Roman Empire would be easier to control if everyone, by law, would have to be Christian. I heard Noam Chomsky note that before the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, the message of Jesus/Yeshua, was for the poor. After the Nicean Council, it became a means for the Aristocracy to control the masses!

    They called the period between 325 and the Renaissance (1519) the Dark Ages! The Gospels were selected by members of the Church, Origen and Clement of Alexandria, were two of them, after sifting through many writings attributed to Christ (Christ, is Greek for “The Anointed one;” a title) many of the writings were from the so called Gnostic churches and most were excluded.

    Reincarnation, the fact that Jesus/Yeshua was a vegatarian (Lent; no meat on Fridays-remember?) were removed from what survived after the editing of many early works from what became the New Testament. Actually the Gospel of John was almost excluded because it was too mystical they thought! “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God” The numerous subsequent translations through the early Church were in Greek-even Jesus is Greek.

    The language spoken by Jesus was Aramaic. How many Christians know that one?! One of the most important things Jesus taught was; “seek and yee shall find; kock and the door shall be opeed; te Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU!” He even noted that we are all sons and daughters od God and that the Kingdom of God was our inheritance What happened to that sublime truth!

    I was also raised Catholic and went to Catholic shools in the 60’s and man a God of Love was not the message I got from those that were supposed to carry the message of Christ. If Jesus showed up in the 60’s and began teaching he would be locked up! Maybe by the late 60’s with the psychedelics he migt have had a few ears! 😉 Anyway; I could write a book about this one! We have to carry the message to the world that the God we were taught as God was misrepresented! The God I know today would support this. How many Priests, preachers etc teach the followers to practice higher meditation.

    Most Christians today think God is a guy in the sky. In one of the Gnostic Gospels, I think it was The Gospel of Thomas,”Jesus said; if the teachers say that the Kingdom of God is in the sky, the birds of the air will get there before them; if the say the the kingdom of God is in the ocean, the fish will get there before them; the Kingdom of God is within and outside also.” The last thing the church of old wanted is followers that can gain access to the truth by themselves! Sorry about this long point, but what you shared about God, is so important. For me, it is doing this so I can point in the right direction; within!

  • John Carter
    March 30, 2012 at 9:17 pm 

    Love this article. Have you seen the videos that these issues are played out in animation. They help you visualize how ridiculous these scriptures are.

  • keith
    March 22, 2010 at 6:54 pm 

    Thanks for the response! Instead of trying to cram my reply into a comment, I decided to create a new post called “The Broken Promises of the Bible” where I hope to explain some of my initial thoughts in relation to yours a little more clearly.

  • metalpants
    March 22, 2010 at 1:24 pm 

    God’s thoughts are FAR higher than ours. Our most intelligent thought is considered foolishness in God’s eyes. To find out some of God’s mysteries (concerning His attitude; whether good or seemingly “Evil”) you have to know Him. And then perhaps one day you’ll understand why He hates sin so much, and why all of us – sinful by nature- fall under judgement that’s not meant for us but for Satan (the father of sin) and His angels.

  • metalpants
    March 22, 2010 at 1:11 pm 

    You seemed to have forgotten to mention the fact that God kept all His promises given to His children, all the miracles, all the undeserving mercies, and just about every good thing that God has ever done for us… Including creating us just so that we could experience life and giving us the freedom to choose what we want to follow. He didn’t need us… At all. He can live along just fine without us. But He wanted to share the wonders of life with us just out of love. Perhaps you need some more studying to do cause you’re unable to explain how such an “evil” God is also capable of being so loving and merciful. When you look up stuff on Satan you’ll always find evil. Never good. Never love. Always selfishness and malice. But how can God be evil and good at the same time?

  • Deb
    November 21, 2009 at 5:08 pm 

    I understand the way these verses can be taken literally – as I am sure you are aware, the Bible has no copyright, and in translation, many words meanings can be inadvertently changed. I , too once felt the way you do, until I dug further – This is why I am learning to read the Tanach in the original Hebrew – error in Transliteration is the most common way to misunderstand.

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