I would like to think of myself as a pretty positive person. I like to surround myself generally around positive people. Ergo, I tend to stay away from negative people. However, here's what interesting: I wasn't always this way. I was a melancholy, self-deprecating, person. I was always one of the most intelligent children in all of my schools but I didn't like the responsibility and attention that came with that exposure.
Even as a child I had issues with my self image. Although I got messages from church, like "god don't make no junk", and positive messages from my family, my experiences exercised a greater influence on my self perception.
During my preteen years at a predominately Black middle school in Detroit, I got picked on every day because I was one of the smart kids in school. They used to call me "white boy" because they erroneously equated intelligence with skin color. The girls used to call me ugly because I was a little overweight and I wore thick glasses. It didn't help my case that the teacher would point me out and tell the students in my class that they should be more like me.
I internalized all of these negative messages and made them my reality. I was always sad and I kept to myself and I didn't have any friends. No one wanted to be friends with the smart kid, not even other smart kids. Folks kept their distance from me. I felt really alienated and alone.
During this time, I started to spend lots of time at my local library, reading all kinds of books. The books that really got my attention dealt with Greek mythology. I started learning about the Titans, sea monsters, Poseidon, Pandora, Prometheus, and of course, the Pantheon of other Greek gods. Reading this ancient literature took me to a time where gods intervened on behalf of heroes. Foolish humans suffered the wrath of the gods, by stepping out of their ordained place in the cosmos. I absorbed and memorized these stories with the accuracy of an ancient Greek bard reciting the tales over a campfire.
I also attended church regularly and I started to distinguish myself from the other youth in the church by studying and memorizing the scripture with the same degree of attention that I gave to the classic Greek stories. By studying the scripture more and being able to explain it with precision allowed me opportunities to teach others.
This new attention in church made me feel good about god however I still did not feel good about myself. I devoted more time to studying the Word, yet I still felt alone because none of my peers in church cared about the Bible and god like I did.
By the time I got to high school, I still felt really alone and the self loathing became part of my personality. However a light shone on the horizon that gave me a glimmer of hope. That blinding light called puberty, changed my physical appearance, but it did nothing for my mindset. I got a little taller, thinned out, and changed the way I dressed. Before high school, I cared nothing about fashion, all of a sudden, I inundated my parents with requests for name-brand clothing.
By having this self loathing mentality, I could never see how people treated me. I kept believing that everyone in the world would treat me like those kids did in middle school. I lacked confidence in myself in every area except when it came to christianity. That was one area where no one could touch me. However a new struggle would await me.
Before puberty, I really didn't care much about girls or sex. I enjoyed reading, playing outside, and church. Now I had to deal with mixed messages: Messages from my body and messages from the Bible.
I started to become really attracted to girls, but my low self image and lack of confidence kept me from talking to them. This self deprecating became part of my personality. Even when I did successfully approach girl and get them interested, my negative mindset caused me to self sabotage any potential relationship. I justified the self sabotage, by saying that "I have to remain pure for jesus and save myself for marriage."
However I ended up having sex as a teen. Even with my negative self image, I was confident enough to meet someone who liked me and I liked her. After we had sex, I felt great, but super guilty.
I started to think of my natural sex drive as a curse from the devil. I started to pray that god would take it away from me, so I could be a vessel. I continued to excel with the bible teaching and started to feel like I had a special calling on my life. Yet, I totally disliked the fact that I was a sexual creature.
This low image of myself affected me for 21 years or a large portion of my life. This negative outlook played a role in my career choices, my relationships with people, and unfortunately my former marriage. I was sad most of the time, yet people would come to me for words of encouragement.
I was known in the body of christ as one who always had a "word". I would help and encourage people; their lives would make significant strides but my life would get continually worse. Physician, heal thyself! I would pray to god to take away these negative feelings, yet he never answered those prayers and I was left feeling more sad, more empty.
It wasn't until I started to question my faith that I started to see the dawn of a new day in my life. I am grateful for the professional counseling I received during my divorce that helped me see who I really was. I am also grateful for the countless hours in self-reflection that enabled me to reboot my life.
When I let go of god, I started to feel better and I started to see my sexuality as a natural part of who I am.
As I write these essays, they tell a particular part of what happened as I evolved past christianity and god concepts. There were so many processes that were occurring, I may never pinpoint everything that took place. What I do know is that I am a positive person today who lives to make the world a better place for those who will come after me.
Showing posts with label non belief. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non belief. Show all posts
Monday, September 15, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Things that have a better track record than the gods
People assume that I live my life completely devoid of faith due to my atheist identification. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I stated in another post found here:
http://bit.ly/1u99CYy
I believe in many things. I only lack faith in the supernatural including gods.
Here are things to put your faith in that have a better track record than the gods:
1. that your job will pay you on pay day
2. that your car will start in the morning(if you own a car)
3. that things in your home will be where you left them
4. that the sun will come up in the morning
5. that people are born and die every day
6. that chain restaurant food will taste the same wherever you go
7. that the NFL will play games Sunday
8. that politicians will approve their messages during the campaign season
9. that someone is having sex right now
10. have faith in yourself
The beautiful thing about being an atheist is that I only speak for myself. If another atheist behaves badly, I don't have to speak about it or explain anything.
For example: We are all Americans(or insert your nation here); If a person commits a crime in Omaha, NE(Nebraska), I have no responsibility in explaining or addressing it.
The only thing I and the person who committed the crime have in common is that we are both Americans. Atheists cannot be lumped together because the only thing we share is a lack of belief in gods.
http://bit.ly/1u99CYy
I believe in many things. I only lack faith in the supernatural including gods.
Here are things to put your faith in that have a better track record than the gods:
1. that your job will pay you on pay day
2. that your car will start in the morning(if you own a car)
3. that things in your home will be where you left them
4. that the sun will come up in the morning
5. that people are born and die every day
6. that chain restaurant food will taste the same wherever you go
7. that the NFL will play games Sunday
8. that politicians will approve their messages during the campaign season
9. that someone is having sex right now
10. have faith in yourself
The beautiful thing about being an atheist is that I only speak for myself. If another atheist behaves badly, I don't have to speak about it or explain anything.
For example: We are all Americans(or insert your nation here); If a person commits a crime in Omaha, NE(Nebraska), I have no responsibility in explaining or addressing it.
The only thing I and the person who committed the crime have in common is that we are both Americans. Atheists cannot be lumped together because the only thing we share is a lack of belief in gods.
Monday, September 8, 2014
My Phoenix Saga
September 1st 2009:
I recently returned to MI after living a year in the South. I just got a gig teaching social studies, returning me to the classroom after a long hiatus. I was still dealing with the pain of my marriage ending in divorce a year earlier. I believed that my life, quite ragged and messy, needed to undergo a radical change. I looked in the mirror and did not like the reflection. I knew what had to be done.
I put my entire life under the proverbial microscope and realized that I carried around lots of things, ideas, that did not belong to me. I had various levels of programming that I finally began to see within myself. I did not want to keep that programming intact, ergo I decided to destroy myself and start over again. In other words, I started the process of recreating myself.
Like the story of the phoenix bird that crashed into its nest, completely engulfed in flames, only to be reborn anew, that became my ultimate goal: A total rebirth.
In order to do this I had to bring all of my beliefs into question. I began to reanalyze the hidden motivation behind ideas and thoughts that I held dear. I questioned my ideas about politics, religion, family, career, relationships, finances, fitness, and many other things.
This process, albeit quite difficult and draining, allowed me to see the truth about myself. I severely underachieved in my life because I wanted to conform to what others perceived about me. I was a yes man, doing things to make others happy, but sacrificing my internal voice in the process. The "me" that I dreamed about possessed great strength of character, integrity, and charisma. At times, I would show flashes of that in my life, but I would not have the psychological strength to maintain it. I would go back to my status quo.
In order to live as the man who had great strength of character, integrity, and charisma, I had to clean out my psyche of old ideas and motivations. By doing this, I made room for new goals and dreams to pursue.
A few major things happened, my political philosophies changed because I found ideas that truly fit me. Also my ideas about family, career, relationships, finances and fitness changed. The biggest change came with regards to my faith.
As I have stated before, my whole identity was tied into my Christian faith. People knew me as the scholarly and passionate believer in Jesus. I recognized that I did not get much return on investment for all those years I gave to Christianity. As a result of this process, I abandoned my Christian identity, leaving it on the bookshelf of my past. I discovered that the path of non belief worked better for me.
Five years and a whole lot of growth later, I find myself finally speaking out for reason and skepticism. I also find myself using the time I have on earth to make a positive difference in society.
I recently returned to MI after living a year in the South. I just got a gig teaching social studies, returning me to the classroom after a long hiatus. I was still dealing with the pain of my marriage ending in divorce a year earlier. I believed that my life, quite ragged and messy, needed to undergo a radical change. I looked in the mirror and did not like the reflection. I knew what had to be done.
I put my entire life under the proverbial microscope and realized that I carried around lots of things, ideas, that did not belong to me. I had various levels of programming that I finally began to see within myself. I did not want to keep that programming intact, ergo I decided to destroy myself and start over again. In other words, I started the process of recreating myself.
Like the story of the phoenix bird that crashed into its nest, completely engulfed in flames, only to be reborn anew, that became my ultimate goal: A total rebirth.
In order to do this I had to bring all of my beliefs into question. I began to reanalyze the hidden motivation behind ideas and thoughts that I held dear. I questioned my ideas about politics, religion, family, career, relationships, finances, fitness, and many other things.
This process, albeit quite difficult and draining, allowed me to see the truth about myself. I severely underachieved in my life because I wanted to conform to what others perceived about me. I was a yes man, doing things to make others happy, but sacrificing my internal voice in the process. The "me" that I dreamed about possessed great strength of character, integrity, and charisma. At times, I would show flashes of that in my life, but I would not have the psychological strength to maintain it. I would go back to my status quo.
In order to live as the man who had great strength of character, integrity, and charisma, I had to clean out my psyche of old ideas and motivations. By doing this, I made room for new goals and dreams to pursue.
A few major things happened, my political philosophies changed because I found ideas that truly fit me. Also my ideas about family, career, relationships, finances and fitness changed. The biggest change came with regards to my faith.
As I have stated before, my whole identity was tied into my Christian faith. People knew me as the scholarly and passionate believer in Jesus. I recognized that I did not get much return on investment for all those years I gave to Christianity. As a result of this process, I abandoned my Christian identity, leaving it on the bookshelf of my past. I discovered that the path of non belief worked better for me.
Five years and a whole lot of growth later, I find myself finally speaking out for reason and skepticism. I also find myself using the time I have on earth to make a positive difference in society.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Christian fallacies: Pt.1 Original Sin
All humans born into the world have a fleshly, lower, demonic, sin nature. Only through the accepting Jesus into one's heart as Lord and savior does a person have the ability to overcome this tragic nature.
The sin of the first man Adam brought this curse upon humanity, due to disobeying the command of God. At least that's how Christians see it.
Islam and Judaism have different takes on this story. For the purpose of this post, I will focus on the Christian interpretation.
Before I can get to this original sin chicanery, I need to explain Christian Cosmology:
Here are some verses you can look up and read to help frame the story below
All verses from King James Version:
Genesis 1:1-4, 16
Isaiah 14:12-15
Ezekiel 28:12-16
Revelation 12:3-4a, 7-9
1. There was God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the triple god existing beyond space and time. God always was: The almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being
2. At some point, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit created space and time.
3. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit created the angels and heavenly hosts. Out of all of these countless beings he created, he gave names to only three, Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer(another triplicate).
4. Unlike the other infinite nameless angels created, these three have their own identity, role, and personality.(Michael-warrior, Gabriel-messenger, Lucifer-musician)
5. At some point Lucifer got jealous of the angels and heavenly hosts praising God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Lucifer though he should be getting praise, too!
6. So Lucifer got 1/3 of the hosts of heaven to side wide him, and overthrow God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
7. There was a war in heaven, Lucifer and the 1/3 of angels that sided with him lost. They were cast down to the earth, or was it that they were put into Hell. I suppose at some point, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit made Hell.
8. After this, Genesis begins: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...
Note: If you read the first chapter of Genesis, it says nothing about the creation of angels or heavenly hosts. Neither does any of the bible discuss when angels and heavenly hosts got created. Nor does it say that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were present. The Spirit of the Lord is equated to be the Holy Spirit in later Christian theology and Jesus is nowhere to be found.
9. Eventually God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit created man and woman.
10. He placed them in a garden and told Adam that they could eat anything in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
11. Adam vanishes and a talking serpent(retrofitted to be Lucifer, now called Satan) convinced the woman(Eve, she didn't have a name yet) to eat a piece of fruit off of the tree of knowledge of god and evil.
12. She ate a piece and gave some to Adam. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit got upset. They cursed Adam, the woman, the serpent, and kicked them out of the garden.
13. After cursing everyone in the garden, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit put two angels with flaming swords at the entrance of the garden to make sure that Adam and the woman could not go back in and eat of the tree of life and live forever.
Here are a few more key verses to help frame the story above:
Genesis 1:11-12, 26-29
Genesis 2:9,15-18, 21-24
Genesis 3:1-6,12-16, 22-24
Note: Genesis 1:29
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.(emphasis added)
If God gave Adam every tree to eat from in this verse above, why did he lie about it in the following chapter?
Note: Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:(emphasis added)
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.(emphasis added)
So where did good and evil originate? They originated together on a tree in a garden that God created.
Bonus: Isaiah 45:7
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.(emphasis added)
Note: Genesis 3:1-5
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
God created the serpent, thought to be Satan in disguise. He left Adam in a bind with a contradictory command that would lead to punishment for his creation. Plus, the serpent could talk! How about that!
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (emphasis added)
If God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are the triplicate god, where did these other gods that the serpent apparently knew about come from? In many cultures around the world, the serpent represents divine knowledge and a serpent eating its tail, the ouroboros, represents infinite knowledge.
Note Genesis 3:22
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Again, where did evil come from, please see Isaiah 45:7 above.
I guess God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit needed to eat from the tree of life to maintain their immortality. Wow !
This is just a story, but this false and dangerous concept has damaged countless numbers of people throughout history. People are not born evil or in sin, folk are just born. It is up to a person to make good on the life that they were given. My responsibility is to combat these wicked theological concepts and help people think for themselves. If I could get out of the fundamentalist christian matrix, anyone can, if they want to.
The sin of the first man Adam brought this curse upon humanity, due to disobeying the command of God. At least that's how Christians see it.
Islam and Judaism have different takes on this story. For the purpose of this post, I will focus on the Christian interpretation.
Before I can get to this original sin chicanery, I need to explain Christian Cosmology:
Here are some verses you can look up and read to help frame the story below
All verses from King James Version:
Genesis 1:1-4, 16
Isaiah 14:12-15
Ezekiel 28:12-16
Revelation 12:3-4a, 7-9
1. There was God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the triple god existing beyond space and time. God always was: The almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being
2. At some point, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit created space and time.
3. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit created the angels and heavenly hosts. Out of all of these countless beings he created, he gave names to only three, Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer(another triplicate).
4. Unlike the other infinite nameless angels created, these three have their own identity, role, and personality.(Michael-warrior, Gabriel-messenger, Lucifer-musician)
5. At some point Lucifer got jealous of the angels and heavenly hosts praising God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Lucifer though he should be getting praise, too!
6. So Lucifer got 1/3 of the hosts of heaven to side wide him, and overthrow God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
7. There was a war in heaven, Lucifer and the 1/3 of angels that sided with him lost. They were cast down to the earth, or was it that they were put into Hell. I suppose at some point, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit made Hell.
8. After this, Genesis begins: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...
Note: If you read the first chapter of Genesis, it says nothing about the creation of angels or heavenly hosts. Neither does any of the bible discuss when angels and heavenly hosts got created. Nor does it say that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were present. The Spirit of the Lord is equated to be the Holy Spirit in later Christian theology and Jesus is nowhere to be found.
Now the original sin beginnings:
9. Eventually God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit created man and woman.
10. He placed them in a garden and told Adam that they could eat anything in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
11. Adam vanishes and a talking serpent(retrofitted to be Lucifer, now called Satan) convinced the woman(Eve, she didn't have a name yet) to eat a piece of fruit off of the tree of knowledge of god and evil.
12. She ate a piece and gave some to Adam. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit got upset. They cursed Adam, the woman, the serpent, and kicked them out of the garden.
13. After cursing everyone in the garden, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit put two angels with flaming swords at the entrance of the garden to make sure that Adam and the woman could not go back in and eat of the tree of life and live forever.
Here are a few more key verses to help frame the story above:
Genesis 1:11-12, 26-29
Genesis 2:9,15-18, 21-24
Genesis 3:1-6,12-16, 22-24
Note: Genesis 1:29
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.(emphasis added)
If God gave Adam every tree to eat from in this verse above, why did he lie about it in the following chapter?
Note: Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:(emphasis added)
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.(emphasis added)
So where did good and evil originate? They originated together on a tree in a garden that God created.
Bonus: Isaiah 45:7
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.(emphasis added)
Note: Genesis 3:1-5
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
God created the serpent, thought to be Satan in disguise. He left Adam in a bind with a contradictory command that would lead to punishment for his creation. Plus, the serpent could talk! How about that!
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (emphasis added)
If God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are the triplicate god, where did these other gods that the serpent apparently knew about come from? In many cultures around the world, the serpent represents divine knowledge and a serpent eating its tail, the ouroboros, represents infinite knowledge.
Note Genesis 3:22
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Again, where did evil come from, please see Isaiah 45:7 above.
I guess God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit needed to eat from the tree of life to maintain their immortality. Wow !
This is just a story, but this false and dangerous concept has damaged countless numbers of people throughout history. People are not born evil or in sin, folk are just born. It is up to a person to make good on the life that they were given. My responsibility is to combat these wicked theological concepts and help people think for themselves. If I could get out of the fundamentalist christian matrix, anyone can, if they want to.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Pt.4 Theodicy, or the Problem of Evil
Theodicy, or the problem of evil seeks to explain why a perfect, loving and just God would allow various tragedies to occur on the face of the earth. I will be using the word tragedy as opposed to evil in some places to discuss this idea. Christianity uses three primary ways to handle these challenges:
1. Divine punishment
2. Divine mystery
3. Demonic activity
1. Divine Punishment is exactly how it sounds: God is punishing a person, place, or thing because of human actions and or disobedience. This what some Christian leaders used to explain the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina back in 2004.
2. Divine Mystery works kind of like this, we don't know why god allowed this tragedy to occur, but we know that all things work together for the good of them who love god, to them who are the called according to his purpose(Romans 8:28). Christian leaders told this to give me comfort when I was dealing with the deaths of my infant sons.
3. Demonic Activity is also exactly like it sounds: Satan and his army of demons have free course to cause tragedy until the end of days. Christian leaders use this approach to explain senseless crimes and loss of life, due to criminal activity.
As I thought more and more about this problem, I began to rethink what I thought about good and evil. I started to see good and evil as relative concepts based on perspective. So I began to look at this idea from the vantage point of animals.
For example: From the perspective of the lion, it's good and necessary to hunt and eat the gazelle. From the perspective of the gazelle, the lion is an evil creature trying to kill and eat me. From a Christian standpoint, folks don't go around talking about how the gazelles being caught was divine punishment from god, due to their disobedience. Neither do they say that demonic activity caused the lions to hunt those speedy African animals. Nor do they say that when a gazelle escapes that god moves in mysterious ways by allowing this one gazelle to survive the massacre of their herd.
When viewing this from the point of the animal kingdom, I began to understand the randomness of nature, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Surviving in this world requires good judgment and lots of luck. I thought about how many ants I stepped on in the course of walking outside in the summer. Due to my feet, countless ants perished, but countless others survived by happenstance. God didn't spare the lives of those ants, or the life of a squirrel that got run over by a car. To the ants and the squirrels that survived, surely those events would be looked at as evil. There was no divine plan for the ants or the squirrels, so why would there be a divine plan for people, since we are also part of the animal kingdom?
The worst part about how Christians deal with tragedy comes when an accident kills nearly every one, but one person survives. They begin to praise god for the one survivor, but what about the fact that he allowed every one else to perish. He could have saved them all, or better yet prevented the accident from happening in the first place.
When I bring up this point, Christians usually run back to the divine mystery defense to explain the tragedy.
The tragedy behind Hurricane Katrina happened because the levees were not maintained and a once in a lifetime storm hit the Gulf Coast during hurricane season.
The tragedy behind my sons deaths occurred because they were premature and their bodies were just not strong enough to survive.
The tragedy behind accidents happen because someone was negligent.
I can no longer accept the idea that god allows tragedies because he has some sort of invisible divine plan. Tragedies happen for various reasons, but god has nothing to do with any of them.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Pt. 2 The Exodus of My Deconversion
As I began to question my faith in Christ, I started to learn more about the world's major religions without any Christian bias clouding what I discovered.
Here are some of the highlights of what I discovered:
1. I learned that the oldest religion in the world is Hinduism.
2. I learned that the religions in the Mesopotamia region and Persia gave us a blueprint for many of the stories that would end up in the Bible.(flood story, Adam and Eve story, Garden of Eden)
3. I learned that the God of the Old Testament was a composite of many of the ancient Canaanite gods(mainly El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai, and Yahweh)
4. The OT did not have a concept of hell as eternal damnation or heaven as eternal bliss
5. The Adam and Eve story had a talking snake, but not a Satan
6. Hinduism has many gods which are all a manifestation of Brahma, the ultimate reality
7. Buddhism had its roots in Hinduism, like Christianity did in Judaism
8. Buddhist ideas spread from India into the Hellenic world through interaction with the troops from Alexander the Great
9. Platonic as well as other Greek philosophical ideas influenced Jewish thinkers during this period
10.The oldest vegetation-rising and dying savior god is Asaru(Osiris). His story influenced other stories about vegetation gods and goddesses throughout the Near East, including Jesus
11. The oldest religious cults were based on the divine feminine principle
12. There are only seven Pauline letters that are accepted as genuine, The other letters are thought to be forgeries
13. Generally eastern religions seek god internally and western religions seek god externally
14. There have been people throughout history who have been skeptical of gods and religion
15. I learned that Jesus is a mythical figure based off of various Greek, Egyptian, and Near East gods and goddess
After taking all of this and even more information in, I knew that at best Christianity was a remix of other religions. I also learned that various concepts about god would change to meet the latest scientific discoveries of the day. This lasted until scientists and philosophers had the courage to suggest that god wasn't needed to explain natural phenomenon.
I knew that my freedom and deliverance from Christianity came as a result of me actually thinking, challenging my beliefs and not just blindly following what I had been taught. The deprogramming, dismantling and destruction of my old belief system was in full swing.
Here are some of the highlights of what I discovered:
1. I learned that the oldest religion in the world is Hinduism.
2. I learned that the religions in the Mesopotamia region and Persia gave us a blueprint for many of the stories that would end up in the Bible.(flood story, Adam and Eve story, Garden of Eden)
3. I learned that the God of the Old Testament was a composite of many of the ancient Canaanite gods(mainly El Shaddai, El Elyon, Adonai, and Yahweh)
4. The OT did not have a concept of hell as eternal damnation or heaven as eternal bliss
5. The Adam and Eve story had a talking snake, but not a Satan
6. Hinduism has many gods which are all a manifestation of Brahma, the ultimate reality
7. Buddhism had its roots in Hinduism, like Christianity did in Judaism
8. Buddhist ideas spread from India into the Hellenic world through interaction with the troops from Alexander the Great
9. Platonic as well as other Greek philosophical ideas influenced Jewish thinkers during this period
10.The oldest vegetation-rising and dying savior god is Asaru(Osiris). His story influenced other stories about vegetation gods and goddesses throughout the Near East, including Jesus
11. The oldest religious cults were based on the divine feminine principle
12. There are only seven Pauline letters that are accepted as genuine, The other letters are thought to be forgeries
13. Generally eastern religions seek god internally and western religions seek god externally
14. There have been people throughout history who have been skeptical of gods and religion
15. I learned that Jesus is a mythical figure based off of various Greek, Egyptian, and Near East gods and goddess
After taking all of this and even more information in, I knew that at best Christianity was a remix of other religions. I also learned that various concepts about god would change to meet the latest scientific discoveries of the day. This lasted until scientists and philosophers had the courage to suggest that god wasn't needed to explain natural phenomenon.
I knew that my freedom and deliverance from Christianity came as a result of me actually thinking, challenging my beliefs and not just blindly following what I had been taught. The deprogramming, dismantling and destruction of my old belief system was in full swing.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
The Genesis of My Deconversion Pt.1
My journey away from Christianity toward free thought came in phases as theological concepts that I once held as true began to collapse.
It started off simply with questioning the principle of tithing. I remember the scripture in the book of Malachi in the 3rd chapter..."Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." I took that concept without any questions. I was taught that tithing in the modern era deals with giving 10% of your income. I was never sure if it was gross or net income. As I began going through my process, I decided to investigate tithing for my self. I discovered that the word tithes only appears 21 times in the Bible and in no case does it has to do with money. Tithing deals with produce and farm animals. I felt a great sense of anger, guilt and dread because I was mislead and mislead others. I began to wonder if there were other errors or misinterpretations that I never questioned.
As I continued this journey,I saw a documentary on the History Channel about the Banned Books of the Bible. I wondered why I had never heard of these books before in church. These banned books had different ideas about the nature of God and the divinity of Jesus. This piqued my curiosity to investigate these texts for myself.
Most of these books were written before the Bible had it's final canonization. There were different gospels like the gospel of Judas, Peter, Philip, and Thomas. This revelation got me to wondering about an odd passage in the book of Jude:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
I never remembered Enoch saying this in the book of Genesis. Where did this scripture quote come from? It came from the book of Enoch, a book that did not make into the final 66 books of the Bible.
I started to investigate further and discovered that the canonical gospels were not the oldest books in the New Testament, the writings of Paul were. Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica is the oldest book in the New Testament, written about 30-50 years after supposed crucifixion of Jesus(about 60-80 CE). The dates for the gospels come much later even well into the second century
(80-150 CE). Even the most conservative date estimates put the gospels at least 30 years after the supposed events occurred. The other books in the New Testament fall within the years of 80 CE-150 CE.
How can accuracy be maintained when most of the Roman world was illiterate? This began to bother me. Stories I heard before about God protecting the sanctity of his book throughout history began to ring hallow. I could no longer believe that.
In addition, I started reading books that discussed errors and contradictions in the Bible. I learned that entire passages like Mark 16:9-20 were not included in the oldest manuscripts. Plus there were no original manuscripts of the gospels written in the language that was spoken:Aramaic. There were only copies of copies of copies. The oldest of these copies only dates back to the second century; 100 years after the supposed death of Jesus.
During that same time period, all those countless gospels existed side by side with the ones that would make the final cut. This period of having multiple gospels would go on for another 200 years!
Then I found out that church leaders convened a meeting(4th Century Council of Nicea, in present day Turkey) to decide, among other things, which books would serve as the basis for a codified volume of scripture that would unify the various factions of the churches. So once again, I am supposed to believe that God gave wisdom to the church leaders to pick the books that were divinely inspired. I don't have enough faith for that.
The Gospel of Mark, reported to be the earliest written, did not have a virgin birth narrative. Neither did the Gospel of John the last gospel written among the canonical gospels. Also, Matthew and Luke, which both contained very different virgin birth narratives, borrowed heavily from Mark's Gospel. In addition, the supposed authors of these gospels would have already been dead when these gospels surfaced and they were written in Greek.
I started to ask many questions:How did Matthew know the intimate details of the messiah's birth? Who told him, if only Mary and Joseph were present? Why don't the details of the birth of Jesus match? And why are there four different resurrection account?
For the first time I started reading the Bible through the lens of reason versus the lens of faith. What I saw was a book that were full of stories and accounts that did not always make sense. I learned that the Bible was compiled over many centuries by many different authors, writing to diverse audiences, with various agendas in mind. It was not a cohesive book that came from heaven completed from Genesis to Revelation by the hand of God. It was a very flawed human book, full of errors, fables, and contradictions.
I used to be an avid apologist, defending the word of God and the faith. I knew that I could no longer defend either. My eyes became opened.
It started off simply with questioning the principle of tithing. I remember the scripture in the book of Malachi in the 3rd chapter..."Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." I took that concept without any questions. I was taught that tithing in the modern era deals with giving 10% of your income. I was never sure if it was gross or net income. As I began going through my process, I decided to investigate tithing for my self. I discovered that the word tithes only appears 21 times in the Bible and in no case does it has to do with money. Tithing deals with produce and farm animals. I felt a great sense of anger, guilt and dread because I was mislead and mislead others. I began to wonder if there were other errors or misinterpretations that I never questioned.
As I continued this journey,I saw a documentary on the History Channel about the Banned Books of the Bible. I wondered why I had never heard of these books before in church. These banned books had different ideas about the nature of God and the divinity of Jesus. This piqued my curiosity to investigate these texts for myself.
Most of these books were written before the Bible had it's final canonization. There were different gospels like the gospel of Judas, Peter, Philip, and Thomas. This revelation got me to wondering about an odd passage in the book of Jude:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
I never remembered Enoch saying this in the book of Genesis. Where did this scripture quote come from? It came from the book of Enoch, a book that did not make into the final 66 books of the Bible.
I started to investigate further and discovered that the canonical gospels were not the oldest books in the New Testament, the writings of Paul were. Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica is the oldest book in the New Testament, written about 30-50 years after supposed crucifixion of Jesus(about 60-80 CE). The dates for the gospels come much later even well into the second century
(80-150 CE). Even the most conservative date estimates put the gospels at least 30 years after the supposed events occurred. The other books in the New Testament fall within the years of 80 CE-150 CE.
How can accuracy be maintained when most of the Roman world was illiterate? This began to bother me. Stories I heard before about God protecting the sanctity of his book throughout history began to ring hallow. I could no longer believe that.
In addition, I started reading books that discussed errors and contradictions in the Bible. I learned that entire passages like Mark 16:9-20 were not included in the oldest manuscripts. Plus there were no original manuscripts of the gospels written in the language that was spoken:Aramaic. There were only copies of copies of copies. The oldest of these copies only dates back to the second century; 100 years after the supposed death of Jesus.
During that same time period, all those countless gospels existed side by side with the ones that would make the final cut. This period of having multiple gospels would go on for another 200 years!
Then I found out that church leaders convened a meeting(4th Century Council of Nicea, in present day Turkey) to decide, among other things, which books would serve as the basis for a codified volume of scripture that would unify the various factions of the churches. So once again, I am supposed to believe that God gave wisdom to the church leaders to pick the books that were divinely inspired. I don't have enough faith for that.
The Gospel of Mark, reported to be the earliest written, did not have a virgin birth narrative. Neither did the Gospel of John the last gospel written among the canonical gospels. Also, Matthew and Luke, which both contained very different virgin birth narratives, borrowed heavily from Mark's Gospel. In addition, the supposed authors of these gospels would have already been dead when these gospels surfaced and they were written in Greek.
I started to ask many questions:How did Matthew know the intimate details of the messiah's birth? Who told him, if only Mary and Joseph were present? Why don't the details of the birth of Jesus match? And why are there four different resurrection account?
For the first time I started reading the Bible through the lens of reason versus the lens of faith. What I saw was a book that were full of stories and accounts that did not always make sense. I learned that the Bible was compiled over many centuries by many different authors, writing to diverse audiences, with various agendas in mind. It was not a cohesive book that came from heaven completed from Genesis to Revelation by the hand of God. It was a very flawed human book, full of errors, fables, and contradictions.
I used to be an avid apologist, defending the word of God and the faith. I knew that I could no longer defend either. My eyes became opened.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Atheism 101 Pt.3 What I Believe
When I started to embrace the word atheist, I began to notice how describing myself with that controversial label stopped dialogue with others. People easily became silent. I thought that folks would engage me in conversation, but they did not. I guess they thought the worst of me and my stance. Who knows?
What I gleaned from those awkward exchanges taught me how important a god concept remains to a large number of people in society. I used those situations to think about what I actually do believe in. My lack of belief in god does not make me an empty person, contrary to popular ideas. I believe in lots of things, just not god or the supernatural.
Here is a list of things I believe in:
1. I believe in the potential of all human beings.
2. I believe in freedom.
3. I believe in regular exercise and maintaining a healthy diet for good health.
4. I believe in now and living in the moment.
5. I believe in democracy.
6. Even after all of the atrocities committed by this country against its citizens and others, I still believe in the ideals of the United States of America.
7. I believe in my family.
8. I believe in having healthy relationships: familial, platonic, romantic.
9. I believe in mutual monogamy.
10. I believe in the Detroit Lions. It may take more faith to believe in them than in jesus.
11. I believe in the resurgence of my hometown, Detroit.
12. I believe that education can open doors for people.
13. I believe that power, authority, wealth, and influence should be used to help improve the lives of others.
14. I believe the arts can touch the psyche of people in a way that allows us to experience the sublime.
15. I believe that my life will have meaning.
16. I believe that when I die, I will simply cease to exist.
These three ideas describe me:
Atheist describes my lack of belief in the supernatural.
Agnostic describes my lack of knowledge in objectively measuring the supernatural.
Humanist describes my faith in humanity solving its problems without the need for perceived supernatural intervention. If we wait on god to fix the problems in the world, they will never get fixed. It is up to us to make the world a better place.
What I gleaned from those awkward exchanges taught me how important a god concept remains to a large number of people in society. I used those situations to think about what I actually do believe in. My lack of belief in god does not make me an empty person, contrary to popular ideas. I believe in lots of things, just not god or the supernatural.
Here is a list of things I believe in:
1. I believe in the potential of all human beings.
2. I believe in freedom.
3. I believe in regular exercise and maintaining a healthy diet for good health.
4. I believe in now and living in the moment.
5. I believe in democracy.
6. Even after all of the atrocities committed by this country against its citizens and others, I still believe in the ideals of the United States of America.
7. I believe in my family.
8. I believe in having healthy relationships: familial, platonic, romantic.
9. I believe in mutual monogamy.
10. I believe in the Detroit Lions. It may take more faith to believe in them than in jesus.
11. I believe in the resurgence of my hometown, Detroit.
12. I believe that education can open doors for people.
13. I believe that power, authority, wealth, and influence should be used to help improve the lives of others.
14. I believe the arts can touch the psyche of people in a way that allows us to experience the sublime.
15. I believe that my life will have meaning.
16. I believe that when I die, I will simply cease to exist.
These three ideas describe me:
Atheist describes my lack of belief in the supernatural.
Agnostic describes my lack of knowledge in objectively measuring the supernatural.
Humanist describes my faith in humanity solving its problems without the need for perceived supernatural intervention. If we wait on god to fix the problems in the world, they will never get fixed. It is up to us to make the world a better place.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Atheism 101 Pt.1 Definitions
I would like to inform you of what atheism is and what it is not along with other useful definitions. Please pay attention the bolded words.
Let's start with some basic definitions:(All definitions from the New American Oxford Dictionary unless otherwise noted)
Belief: an acceptance(emphasis added) that a statement is true or that something exists; something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion(emphasis added) or conviction
Faith: complete trust(emphasis added) or confidence in someone or something; strong belief(emphasis added) in God or in the doctrines of a religion(emphasis added), based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof
Trust: firm belief(emphasis added) in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something; acceptance(emphasis added) of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation(emphasis added)
Religion: belief in and worship(emphasis added) of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods: ideas about the relationship between science and religion
Theism: belief(emphasis added) in the existence of a God or gods, esp. belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it(emphasis added) and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures
Monotheism: the doctrine or belief(emphasis added) that there is only one God
Polytheism: the belief(emphasis added) in or worship of more than one god
Deism: belief(emphasis added) in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene(emphasis added) in the universe
Pantheism: a doctrine that identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God
Agnostic: a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable(emphasis added), or that human knowledge is limited to experience(Dictionary.com)
Skeptic: a person who questions(emphasis added) the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual(Dictionary.com)
Unbelief: the state or quality of not believing(emphasis added); incredulity or skepticism, especially in matters of doctrine or religious faith(Dictionary.com)
Atheism: disbelief or lack of belief(emphasis added) in the existence of God or gods
Humanism: an outlook or system of thought(emphasis added) attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters
Theists make a claim of ultimate supernatural authority based on belief without evidence or investigation, atheists deny the claim of supernatural authority based on belief. Atheists require investigation and evidence of supernatural claims because belief is not enough.
Thanks for bearing with me through all of these definitions! I will refer to them in future Atheism 101 posts.
Let's start with some basic definitions:(All definitions from the New American Oxford Dictionary unless otherwise noted)
Belief: an acceptance(emphasis added) that a statement is true or that something exists; something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion(emphasis added) or conviction
Faith: complete trust(emphasis added) or confidence in someone or something; strong belief(emphasis added) in God or in the doctrines of a religion(emphasis added), based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof
Trust: firm belief(emphasis added) in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something; acceptance(emphasis added) of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation(emphasis added)
Religion: belief in and worship(emphasis added) of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods: ideas about the relationship between science and religion
Theism: belief(emphasis added) in the existence of a God or gods, esp. belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it(emphasis added) and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures
Monotheism: the doctrine or belief(emphasis added) that there is only one God
Polytheism: the belief(emphasis added) in or worship of more than one god
Deism: belief(emphasis added) in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene(emphasis added) in the universe
Pantheism: a doctrine that identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God
Skeptic: a person who questions(emphasis added) the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual(Dictionary.com)
Unbelief: the state or quality of not believing(emphasis added); incredulity or skepticism, especially in matters of doctrine or religious faith(Dictionary.com)
Atheism: disbelief or lack of belief(emphasis added) in the existence of God or gods
Humanism: an outlook or system of thought(emphasis added) attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters
Theists make a claim of ultimate supernatural authority based on belief without evidence or investigation, atheists deny the claim of supernatural authority based on belief. Atheists require investigation and evidence of supernatural claims because belief is not enough.
Thanks for bearing with me through all of these definitions! I will refer to them in future Atheism 101 posts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)