Wikkid's blog: "Religion and Government"

Religious Debate▬●ΑΘΕΟΣ
http://fubar.com/blog/15189/1127148

There really is no debate with Christians. With the right arguments, they can be shut down with that look of a deer in headlights in less than 5 min. Many popular atheists today, such as Richard Dawkins, have taken their arguments in books and live debates in the wrong direction. Althought these books are great, I own them, but they do little to give Christians an ego check. I could probably debate those same Christians just with the Bible. I can debunk Creation in 2 pages, prove God does not exist in 3 and debunk Christianity and the Bible in 6. The last one is here, http://fubar.com/blog/290783/1124595

I will post the first two. The last one shuts Christians down like a huge wrench in their gears with an attached bomb on it. There is also a couple blogs on how America is NOT a Christian Nation and how Jesus is not the reason for Christmas and Easter.

The short of it is God was responsible for the fall from grace by being unable to stop Satan's Insurrection (a theology story not supported by the Bible), by allowing Satan to escape from an ill-conceived pit to roam earth (at some point), by placing temptation in the Garden in the form of trees and by creating Adam and Eve, the consequences of which he should have foreseen.

Christians say we go to hell by choice and free will, but this is a lie. It was the search for knowledge and the gaining of a conscience that caused Adam and Eve to become like God. This duplication of Satan's Insurrection and threat to his omnipotence caused God such a big scare that he denied them eternal life and cursed them. According to the Bible on God has free will, even Satan cannot do anything unless god allows. Humans do not have free will according to the Bible. God causes things to happen and people to act in certain ways, including ordering them or forcing them to murder, rape, commit adultery, and other things that anger him.

The Bible gives us several different reasons how sin came, almost all of them God was responsible for. It gives us several different contradicting ways how to gain salvation, but ultimately those who have been chosen since the foundation of creation, so it doesn't matter what we do and God hardens the hearts of those who are not supposed to get the message.

The Bible itself undermines Christian theology and I don't care what denomination they come from. I have emailed or mailed this debate to over 200 church staff and I have only begun. The only response I have ever gotten was some irrelevant story about Jesus's love, which is also a sham.

Read my blogs. While realistic and humanistic answers like you have given are true, the best debate is using the Bible against them to supplement your own. You will find that they don't even know the book they say they live by and how far Christianity has taken the entire thing out of context. It is a debate they have never heard and cannot deal with.

Secondly, people usually are what they hate. No matter what Christians say they are true racists against the human race and reason. There is a huge snag with Christianity of such magnitude that it even interfered with Paul's line of thinking, RESPONSIBILITY. Do you know why people get addicted to drugs, alcohol, etc? It's because when you blame outside sources for your emotions (people's behavior or words, circumstances, etc) you look for outside sources to distract, change or save you. This is also why people get addicted to blind faith. Faith itself, however, is blind to the truth.

Thirdly, I like debating the Christians (or anyone) who can't deal with others from love and compassion. Can we deal with people from a position of love and compassion? If we can't its because we are judging them and judgment is a reflection of something that we do not like about ourselves. No discernment and judgment are not the same. You can discern with knowledge or experience that a rattlesnake is poisonous. You can accept the snake for what it is and avoid it out of love for your own life. This is what people with integrity do with people who do not have integrity (consistency in actions, principles, honesty, beliefs, etc) Judgment is different. It condemns, and wants to change the snake because its resists the snake for what it is. When you SHOW Christians that God is a murderer and such and demonstrate that their religion is anti-human and anti-science, because they do not have integrity or love, they do not know what it is. They will oddly say you are the one who is contradicting yourself, is judging them, etc.

Christians claim God created humanity to worship him with free will but humans became something God did not intend (an arrogant statement implying humans outsmarted God). By disobeying they rendered God's perfect creation to be imperfect. God planned creation, and planned salvation.

Let's look at the Scriptural evidence. You can read the story of Adam and Eve and the fall from grace in Genesis chapter 3.

God told Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, lest they die, giving them "free choice", instead of exercising his will over them.... (You do not have free will if you are commanded to do something and expected to obey. This is circumstantial will.)

The serpent told Eve that God knew they would not die but "...God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be like God, knowing good & evil." After eating the fruit of knowledge of good & evil, God himself proclaimed to his pantheon of male & female gods (whose image humans were fashioned from) that "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good & evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand & take also from the tree of life & eat, & live forever."

It was the desire for knowledge & the gaining of a conscience - knowing right from wrong - that caused Adam & Eve to "become like God" which was a duplication of Satan's Insurrection (a story from Christian theology, not supported by the Bible). This caused God such a big scare that he denied them eternal life (until Jesus came, & the bible gives no explanation of why god, all of a sudden, deems in okay to give people eternal life.) The irony of this story is that God put it all on himself, by creating them, the consequences of which he should have foreseen.

This God who Christians proclaim plans, sees & knows the future was outsmarted by two ignorant people whom he failed to give a conscience & thus the ability to make informed decisions. How can innocent people sin if they do not know the difference between right & wrong & how can he expect them to obey? A God who is so concerned with disobedience is a God who did not create humanity with a free will who could make their own mistakes, take responsibility and learn from them. God's foresight and planning doesn't go well.

Adam was an afterthought gardener & Eve an afterthought helper when the lower animals didn't suffice & childbirth was a curse! God curses all of humanity because of Adam and Eve's alleged sin and later throughout the OT kills innocent children and people for the sins of David or other responsible parties. If Christians want to condone such injustice, perhaps then, we should burn a few Christians at the stake or feed them to lions for Hitler's crimes. After regretting creating humans, he destroys his first batch of humans in a global flood.... Which he regrets & promises not to do again. He decides he can do better, but his plan of salvation is made more on a whim, & while he wants everyone to be delivered to heaven, in the end only a few will make it, while many perish in eternal torture. So much for God's perfect plan. God's plans often go awry in the bible.

Unable to take responsibility for his own actions, he passes blame, curses humanity and in all his alleged infallible good-will, love, compassion, understanding, infinite wisdom & justice....he finds it impossible to forgive & decides to come up with a drawn out plan of murder, violence, torment, mystery and miracles so he can come down to earth, be killed & deliver humanity from their sin. Apparently, his love for blood is more important than finding an easier and more graceful way to inspire his creation.

The biblical/Christian God is subject to ridicule and laughter since his Almighty wisdom and plan was outwitted by two people whom he failed to give a conscious - the ability to know wrong from right, and therefore the ability to exercise free will and make informed decisions. God's Almighty wisdom, omniscience, omnipotence, foresight & intentions was outsmarted by his first two human creations who were as dumb as rocks.God blames them for his own shortcomings of divine wisdom and then curses humanity for their crime. This is a god I hope I never have to face as judge in his Holy Law System of “Justice”. For any Christian to validate and confess that they believe in this type of injustice shows their corruption, inability to know right from wrong, the damage Christian theology has done to their psyche and should not be allowed to have a seat as part of a jury or as a judge in any criminal case.

If humans were to be responsible for their actions, fairness and justice requires that god gave them the ability to know wrong from right to enable them to make informed decisions, be less gullible to deception, understand obedience, be able to exercise free will, enable them to build their own character and be responsible for their own thoughts, emotions and actions; and enable to manage their own personal behavior.

The NT tells us that God created sin when he created the Laws (of Moses) and before that time, there was no sin because no one knew what it was. This makes Adam, Eve and all those killed in the flood blameless.

God was unable to stop an insurrection in his own domain that was made by imperfect angelic ingrates he created & instead of destroying them, he threw them in an ill-conceived pit that they proceeded to escape from. God allowed Satan to be on earth to tempt Eve & God placed more temptation in the Garden in the form of two trees. Why he was afraid of them gaining a conscious because it was a threat to his omnipotence but didn't warn them to not eat from the tree of eternal life raises questions. (Paul says sin was decreed so that Jesus might come & grant grace. Paul is therefore claiming Eve was framed as her actions were forced because of God's predestination to give birth to Christianity by conceiving sin. This makes her mother of all who is cursed with death by sin, playing a double role as mother of all the living)

The book of Job tells us that Satan can only do what God allows him to do. This entire book tells the story of God allowing Satan to persecute a sinless man, who faces many horrid sufferings so that God could prove himself. God tempts and proves.

A god who is unable to stop evil is not omnipotent. A god who is unwilling to stop evil is malevolent & cannot be reconciled with the idea of a good-will that is infallible. A god who uses evil to prove himself is vain & a jealous God who is so easily angered & confines most of humanity to infinite torture for finite sins is unjust & not compassionate. If a god is unwilling and unable to stop evil, then he cannot be adored or even admired & it is doubtful that he is capable of promising a peaceful utopia.

The NT tells us many times that God predetermines who is saved & he hardens the hearts of those who are not supposed to get the message. The names of those who were chosen have been in the Book of Life since the foundations of the world. This is an unjust arrangement if everyone is to be saved, and Jesus said that the path was narrow & few would enter heaven. This injustice makes God appear deceptive, malicious & malevolent.

A God who runs & controls everything cannot be reconciled with the human ability, & duty, to make informed decisions based on free will & as long as there is free will, God's plan is subject to frustration.

Jesus promotes the idea that God is a year round Santa Claus who will grant believers anything. If every plea from believers changes God's mind, this paints a picture of a purposeless, undependable Almighty who is prone to swaying indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another & responsibility for the course of events belongs to people, not God. Either he manages the world in the best possible way or he lets prayer influence him to manage things in a different way. Christians claim that he knows what you want before you ask for it, but if you don't ask do you still get it or not? Either God gives it to you either way by deciding what you need, or he doesn't control everything. They say he knows what you will do before you do it, but his omniscience about the fall from grace tells us the contrary.

Petition prayers cannot be reconciled with a God who should be able to handle things without suggestion & requests from mortals. Ability to change the mind of the Most High or to help him make decisions, is an arrogant notion for people who feel they need to tell God his business while claiming his wisdom in beyond our own. "Guide us, bless this food, lead us not into temptation, abide with me," such assertions & specific requests for special personal favors are insulting to an all-knowing, all-wise deity. Praise of thanks are just as pointless to an alleged unselfish God. It is even contradictory for God to demand recognition & constant worship for his gift of his death at human hands. Jesus made it clear that such gifts should be anonymous & alms done in secret. Then he contradicts himself by making belief in this "perfect gift" of his blood so important that rejection of such belief condemns the unbeliever to hell.

A God whose mind is so easily influenced is a God without plan or wisdom or ability to see into the future. A god, who contrary to some scripture, is after all changeable. Even King David made God think twice about one of his actions. So much for authority & infinite wisdom.

Throughout the OT, God forces events to happen, & causes people to act in ways that anger him & then kills innocent people & animals for it. Is there any idea more corrupt or unjust than being blamed for the actions of your accuser or that you are forced to do and kill innocent people for the iniquities of the guilty? A God who plans & knows the future & who murders is a malevolent God who premeditates murder & cannot be reconciled with a God who is benevolent. A future knowing God who premeditates murder, and orders the Jews to kill Gentiles, while giving laws against murder is a deceptive God, who's word is not good and who's morality is schizophrenic. God cannot do or be that which makes fallible his morality, benevolence, love, compassion, etc & therefore is not omnipotent. The NT & apostles whitewash this tyrannical God as a God of Love.

Jesus' teaching of the need to be reborn again & converted like children denies the ability of God to create perfection at the first attempt. Since heaven was the scene of the first civil war & the first generations of humans were faulty, God appears to be a blunderer. He unjustly accuses humans for all this mess, when he failed to plan well & give them the tools needed to please him. Jesus tells us to not use our reason or intellect. Remain as a child, with no moral sense, ability to distinguish by discernment or make rational decisions, or experience to guide you.

Being ignorant like a child negates the whole field of reason & experience as useful to humanity in making decisions that govern personal behavior, & eliminates the need for education of any kind. Children cannot distinguish between reality & fantasy, & their minds are immature & not trained to consider & arrive at reasonable conclusion.

Churches who teach people that they are helpless & cannot use personal power, self-improvement or intelligence to build their character, learn valuable principles of social interdependence without god are institutions of ignorance, human indecency & are racists towards the human race. They show a lack of understanding of human nature, as Jesus did. Christianity enforces the same type of behavioral problems of causing addictions to blind faith that cause addictions to drugs & alcohol. When you blame outside sources for your thoughts, emotions & actions, you look to outside sources to help save, change or distract you. There is a snag of such magnitude that it makes the Christian theology completely useless....RESPONSIBILITY.

The bible tells us to rely on faith, not reason. Faith - which is not based on knowledge, experience or rational thought from arising doubt, replaces the search for truth. Faith is a cop out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith then you are conceding that it cannot be accepted by its own merits.

Ignorance is content to stand with its back turned to the truth. If believing that Satan is God is his greatest concern & being afraid of the truth because it "creates doubt" is his biggest fear, then it seems implausible to believe in a jealous, wrathful, unjust, malicious & malevolent God without questioning faith. According to the bible, those who question faith & go against the church are to be killed. If love & compassion are Christianity's ultimate goals, than using fear, guilt, shame & delusions of worthlessness are its ultimate perversion.

God is not confident that the truth will prevail when he claims it can only be revealed through mystery & a childish display of miracles. Why not be able to encourage humanity with wisdom that helps them control behavior patterns & make great achievements on earth that help us understand, & take care of each other better? Or how about real evidence for God instead of hearsay accounts & a doctrine and autobiography that no two people can agree upon?

Belief in God & Jesus as Savior is the only way for man to escape damnation, but Paul claims that it is impossible to comprehend God, which makes it impossible to understand him. This makes studying the bible, going to church, asking for clarity & proselytizing useless. This image of a humanity incapable of grasping concepts is a fit companion for the Christian requirement that people accept it on faith alone. Hunger for knowledge caused the downfall of humanity.

The putdown of intelligence & any use of the intellect is so woven into the Bible that it must be concluded that one must strive to be dumb, gullible, unquestioning & imprudent (lacking discretion, wisdom, or good judgment) to accept Christian theology & that those who are not are doomed. Intelligence leads to hellfire and Paul writes several times that God destroys & confounds the wisdom of the wise. The bible tells us that the "gift of reason" which apparently makes us higher than animals maybe be the match that lights the fire of hell for all who dare use it, since whatever is not faith is sin.

Beware of Christians who come from pride about fearing God. The human ego (the devil itself) fears God because it wants to be God. Whats the implication of fearing a god who they claim is infallible in love (but then later say he can't forgive, etc). This type of fallacy trains people to fear love and this kind of arrogant notion is what poisons our society with ideas of confusing pain, hurt and fear with love. How ignorant are people to be afraid of love?

Christians who cannot deal with ALL people with love and compassion are failing at Enlightenment/salvation, and like other Abrahamic religions, they come from pride, greed, selfishness, envy and support idol worship, cannibalism, vampirism, masochism and sadism. Non-integrous people (people who's consciousness is below the integrity line) come from ego and have not consciously evolved past their animal brain which is where the deadly sins stem from.

If there is only one correct way to live it is to consciously decide to be kind, open, compassionate, forgiving, gentle, humble and considerate with all people, all of life, including yourself, in all situations, in all contexts with every single being on this planet including yourself at all times, without exception. No bending the rules, even if someone spits in your face, you have to look at it as a test and you have to be kind.

You also have to be kind, forgiving and compassionate with yourself. That means that you continually, nonstop, forgive yourself, at all times, no matter what you do, no matter how awful you just behaved. You are to forgive yourself, no matter what, without exception.

Christians who say things like "One day we will have all the evidence we will need & you will be sorry" or "I hope you know Jesus" or "I hope you burn in hell" have some serious self-examination to do. God & Jesus both were impatient & used threats with non-believers. For all the time spend worshiping a "God of love" & "Prince of Peace" most believers never seem to learn the greatest lesson about evil....THREATS ARE THE HALLMARK OF THE WICKED. A God who creates a hell & who puts people there for mere error is a wicked God & anyone who believes in such a god is just as wicked.

Paul, the apostles (who did not accept Paul), today's evangelists & many Christians condone the injustice & murder initiated by God. For any moral leader to condone, in the pages of the "Word of God", the concept that wrong-doers are punished justifiably by a deity responsible for their sin violates the sense of decency of the most depraved heathen.

The bible gives many Scriptures that tell us that God predetermines who is saved & the names of the saved are already written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. He hardens the hearts of those who are not supposed to get the message. This is an unjust arrangement if he wishes all to be saved as Christians claim who spend so much time, effort & money trying to achieve as useless endeavor.

The bible is a book about the Jews, their history, traditions, superstitions & religion. It is a contradiction that Gentiles should find any meaning in it for them. The treatment of Gentiles by God, the Jews & Jesus should cause any Gentile to want to throw the book in the nearest trash.

But Jesus & the disciples saw great opposition from the Jews & salvation for the uncircumcised Gentiles is a second-thought.. All the apostles teach that the promise of salvation is to the Jews & Jesus himself claimed he was only speaking to the Jews, so he wasn't speaking to us. Paul's experiences with Jewish & Roman authorities cause him to go among the Gentiles in spitefulness. Only by a complicated vision does Peter include Gentiles but is never happy with it. Jesus never claimed to have been here to save anyone but the Jews.

The bible itself undermines Christian theology. Christianity and Orthodox doctrine, themselves, depend on taking the bible out of its full context to support their own self-fulfilled prophecy of war & sadism in the name of peace & love.

The Anti-Christ is a self-fulfilled prophecy. Christianity promises to bring peace, compassion, love, and spiritual tranquility but prophecies war, judgment, fear, and sadism which is contrary to its self-interesting facade. You cannot bring peace when you prophecy a great war with evil. You cannot led people to love life and God's “beautiful created world” when you use fear of death and tell people how wicked the world is. You cannot teach people responsibility when teach them to blame outside sources for their predicament. You cannot teach justice and self-empowering principles when you claim that only God can change our character and believe in a God who's plan has been biased, unjust, malicious and unwisely faulty from the start.

TOP 10 NEW TESTAMENT CONTRADICTIONS

1. What time of day was Jesus crucified?

    * At the third hour:  "And it was the third hour when they crucified him." (Mark 15:25)
    * At least three hours later, because at "about the sixth hour" John says that Jesus was still with Pilate before the Jewish crowd. (John 19:14)  Also, Matthew (27:45) and Luke (23:44) have Jesus already on the cross at the sixth hour, so they, too, contradict John's account.

    Some theologians claim that John is giving the hour in "Roman time," but the Romans reckoned time from sunrise, as did the Jews.  So the "sixth hour" would mean the same for both.  Also, there is no evidence in the gospel of John to support any theory that the author was counting the hours any differently from normal Jewish custom.  The gospel of John was not written in Rome, nor for a Roman audience.  For info on the Roman system of reckoning time, see J. Balsdon, Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome, p.1. Also L. and R. Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome.

2. The second coming of Jesus was a failed prediction.

     Jesus predicted that on his return to earth, "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  And then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven."  (Mark 13:24-27)  He even predicted a deadline for it to happen:  "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place."  (Mark 13:30)  The generation he was speaking to did pass away, but the sun still shines, the stars still twinkle in the night sky, and there have been no heavenly passengers riding in on the clouds.  Jesus was wrong.

    Mark 13:30 is not the only passage that makes such a prediction.  We see it also in Matthew 24:34, which uses the same language as Mark.  Luke 21:25-27, 32 also has nearly the same wording.
    Also, Matthew 16:28 - "There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."
    And in Luke 9:26-27 - "There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."
    And Mark 9:1 - "Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power."

    The Greek word for "generation" means essentially the same as our English word.  According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible (1973 ed., p. 1204, note to Matthew 24:34), "the normal meaning of this generation would be 'men of our time,' and the words would refer to a period of 20-30 years."

    The theologians often appeal to Mark 13:32 to argue that Jesus was not making a specific prediction about when the end would occur.  That passage tells us that Jesus himself does not know exactly when the end will come:  "But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  Here, however, he's just telling us that he doesn't know the exact time when the kingdom of God will arrive.  He is still very clear that it will occur sometime during the lifetime of the generation he's speaking to.

    Another way in which the theologians try to escape from this embarrassment is to claim that the generation referred to in Mark 13:30, Matthew 24:34, etc. is not the generation Jesus was speaking to, but the generation that will be living at the time these amazing events take place.  But this is obviously absurd, because it would mean that Jesus is telling his audience, "Some of the people in the generation that will be alive when these things happen will be alive when these things happen."  A statement like this conveys no meaning at all, and there would be no point in Jesus saying such a thing.

3. The genealogies of Joseph given by Matthew and Luke contradict each other.

    * According to Matthew, Joseph was descended from David's son Solomon through 27 generations (David to Joseph inclusive).  (Matthew 1:1-16)
    * But according to Luke, Joseph was descended from David's son Nathan through 42 generations (David to Joseph, inclusive).  (Luke 3:23-31)

    Most of the names in these two genealogies are different, and they do not even agree on who Joseph's father was.  Matthew tells us that Joseph's father was called Jacob (Matthew 1:16), while Luke tells us that his father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    There are Christians who claim that Luke's genealogy is that of Mary, and Matthew's is that of Joseph, but there is nothing in Luke that remotely suggests that interpretation, and both Matthew's and Luke's lists specifically mention Joseph as the end point.

4. Did Joseph take his family to Jerusalem after Jesus was born?

    * Yes, Joseph brought them to Jerusalem after Jesus's circumcision and the days of purification prescribed in Leviticus 12:2-8.  "And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord." (Luke 2:22)
    * No, Joseph was afraid to go to Jerusalem because he feared Herod's son Archelaus, who was then ruling in Jerusalem.  "But when he heard that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.  And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth."  (Matthew 2:22-23)

5. How should we pray?

    * Only pray the Lord's prayer, for God already knows what you need.  (Matthew 6:7-13)
    * Pray for whatever you want: "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it."  (John 14:14); "If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name."  (John 16:23)

    BUT it doesn't matter anyway, because "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) and "We know that God does not listen to sinners." (John 9:31)

6. How are we saved?

    * Salvation is by faith, apart from works. (Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16)
    * Salvation is by good works, apart from faith. (James 2:17, 20, 26)
    * Salvation comes from confessing and repenting of one's sins. (1 John 1:9; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19)

7. Can all sins be forgiven?

    * Yes - "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (Acts 10:43)  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
    * No - "Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." (Matthew 12:32)  "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." (Mark 3:29)

8. Is Jesus equal to God?

    * Yes - "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)
    * No - "The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28)

9. Where did the disciples first meet the resurrected Jesus?

    * In Matthew, the disciples are reported as meeting Jesus in Galilee, per his previous instructions.  "Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted."  (Matthew 28:16-17)
    * In Luke, they remain in Jerusalem to meet him per Jesus's previous instructions. "And they [the two travelers to Emmaus] arose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, 'The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.'  Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.  As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them." (Luke 24:33-36)

    The contradiction cannot be avoided by claiming that there were two meetings, one in Galilee and one in Jerusalem.  Luke's account is clearly intended to describe the disciples' first encounter with the resurrected Jesus, and the disciples themselves are "startled and frightened" to see him. (Luke 24:37)  After this meeting, the disciples follow Jesus out to Bethany, where he departed from them and "was carried up into heaven." (Luke 24:52)  So there is no time when a meeting in Galilee can be squeezed into this timeframe.

10. Was Jesus's message only for the Jews, or for everyone?

    * For the Jews only: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  (Matthew 15:24)  Also, Jesus told his disciples, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 10:5-6)
    * For everyone: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel.  It is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)  "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him." (Romans 10:12-13)  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

Christmas and Easter

Atheists celebrate the Winter Solstice, which has been recognized since ancient times as the shortest day of the year – December 25 by the Julian calendar. The ancients celebrated this day because they realized that they had “rounded the corner” and, soon, days would grow longer and longer, and their crops would once again provide sustenance.

During the early days of Christianity, believers tried to persuade the ruling authorities to establish a legal holiday to commemorate Jesus' birth. But the governing authorities refused. So the Christians decided that “if you can't beat them, join them” and thereafter celebrated Jesus' birth on an already-established holiday: the Winter Solstice, Dec 25^th. (This was in the 4^th Century. Before that time, Christians only celebrated Jesus' Resurrection, not his birth.) Pope Gregory XIII later revised the ancient Julian calendar; and so the calendar we use today –the Gregorian calendar-- moves the Winter Solstice back a few days to Dec 21^st for astronomical reasons, whereas Christmas continues to be celebrated on the 25^th.

Christmas, Easter and the Communion were pagan celebrations/rituals taken by the Catholic church to gain converts. Earlier Christians did not celebrate Jesus' birth or death and they did not persecute non-believers. These ideas developed after Rome was converted to Christianity, a nation of pagans that persecuted Christians before Constantine made it the national religion.

((By the Middle Ages, Christianity had largely replaced the pagan religions of Europe. Catholic Church stemmed from pagan Christian sects such as the Pauline Christians and Gnostics. It was in Italy that the Holy Bible formed. From the 5^th century to the European Reformation in the 17^th century, new denominations, such as the Puritans, Protestants and others formed from those who claimed the Catholic Church had become corrupted. During the Nine Crusades, which originally had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from the Christian Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia. The term is also used to describe contemporaneous and subsequent campaigns conducted through to the 16th century in territories outside the Levant usually against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons.

Old pagan temples and statues of pagan gods were destroyed or converted in Christian temples, and thousands of historical and pagan religious books were destroyed. Many pagan ideas, history, rituals and holidays were adopted by Roman Catholic Church to gain converts. Most of the main stories in the Bible were rewritten mythologies that began in Babylonian, Sumerian and Egyptian mythology.

The Crusades had far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts, some of which have lasted into contemporary times. Because of internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim.

The Crusades, The Inquisitions, the Reformations, and witch hunts were all Christian campaigns to persecute and weed out pagans and non-believers.

For 1500 yrs, the Christian Church systematically operated torture chambers in Europe. Torture was the rule, not the exception. Next to the Bible, the most influential and venerated book in Christian history was the Malleus Maleficarum [Hammer of Witches], which was a step-by-step tutorial in how to torture “witches” and “sorcerers.” Each year, the Christian Church in Europe tortured to death tens of thousands of people, including children as young as 2 yrs of age. Witch-burning was not a brief period of Colonial America, but ended in Colonial America after a gruesome 1500-year reign of terror throughout Europe.

As with the journey to the Promise Land by the Israelites in the Bible, The Crusades was a military campaign to take over Jerusalem by the Christian/Vatican controlled government of Rome. In the Bible, the journey to the Promised Land - led by Moses, Kind David and other prophets of God – was a military campaign in which God orders the murder of men, women, children and animals; the sexual slavery of women and the annihilation of entire cities. In order to validate these unethical and immoral contradicting stories, Christian claims that God did it because the people had become wicked, however, it is in clear context that there was no legitimate reason for these serial mass murders.))

Every Christmas season, ministers preach sermons about how we have forgotten the “true” meaning of Dec. 25^th. I agree! We have forgotten that Dec. 25^th had nothing to do with Jesus' birth. It was an ancient celebration of the Winter Solstice. Easter is likewise a Christian hijacking of an ancient pagan holiday, the Vernal Equinox or Spring Solstice a day when darkness and light are equally divided. Even today, the date of Easter is set each year by calculating the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21^st, the Vernal Equinox.

Ministers and people says that Christ has been lost in the commercializing of Christmas. Implicit in that is the idea that Christ had ever totally been the center of Christmas and as Christmas has been celebrated, ever since it was instituted, its a feast of the Nativity. These notions are false. There's always been other rituals, other ceremonies, and other activities associated with Christmas, even before Christians celebrated Jesus' birth.

Christmas trees and gift giving were customs that originated from pagan celebrations, not from the Nativity. Pagan celebrations were mostly “12 days of Christmas” of food and dance, a countdown to Dec 25th. Meat was abundant as many cows had been killed for food for the winter.

A big part of Christian Christmas and tradition is the Nativity Scene. It is central to the idea that the “true meaning” behind Christmas is the celebration Jesus' birth. There is a big misconception with this tradition and Christian scene of Jesus' birth.

While John and Mark don’t see it to be of any importance to mention Jesus’ birth, only Matthew and Luke write details of it.

The Nativity Scene is a story that's not even written in the Bible and in context, the alleged biblical birth of Christ was probably in the Spring, based on Luke's account of the shepherds in the field looking over their flock whom went to see Jesus in the manger.

The Naïve Story, or Nativity Scene, is a story derived from selective details from Matthew and Luke, whose details contradict each other and from other details that neither Gospel mentions at all.

For example, Luke mentions a manger but no house, while Matthew mentions a house but no manger.

Neither Gospel mentions Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus being in a stable or of there being any animals in the presence of them on the night of his birth.

Neither Gospel mentions 3 wise men. Matthew mentions no shepherds or manger as Luke does, but mentions wise men and only an unspecified number of them, whom follow Jesus’ star to the house. Luke mentions no wise men or house as Matthew does, but mentions shepherds who are visited by an angel and are told to see Jesus in a manger.

The Naïve Scene is a story that is not in the Bible, because no one ever wrote it. It was created by St. Francis of Assisi almost 1200 years after the Bible was put together.

After Jesus' birth, Matthew claims Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt with Jesus because Herod intended to have Jesus destroyed and they remained there until Herod’s death. Luke, however, makes no mention of Herod or his plan to kill Jesus nor does it mention them fleeing to Egypt. After Jesus is circumcised on the 8^th day after is birth, Joseph and Mary take him to Jerusalem for a time, to present Him to the Lord, and after they had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Nazareth where Jesus grew up. At no point in the Luke account does it mention them fleeing to Egypt.

Christmas was started in the United States to be a holiday for kids, as Moms, Dads and Grandparents already had their own holidays. It was a time to remind us to give to others. Christmas trees were a tradition that came from Germany. The only Christmas tradition that came from the United States is the character Santa Claus. God seems like Santa Claus for adults.

The Communion is also an ancient pagan ritual that was hijacked by the Catholic Church to gain converts. If you think about it, however, the Communion is in essence symbolic for cannibalism and vampirism, both of which resemble the very thing that Christians in the 80's spent a lot of time making claims of Satanic cults eating flesh and drinking blood and fussing over it. People usually are what they hate and if you take a deeper look into the Christian religion, those who persecute others are committing those very things they hate.

Holy Fire Insurance

Salvation is exchanged for worship & it's nothing more than a holy barter system where you say the magic words & you are saved. On the surface it's cheap, easy and painless. It appeals to anyone who doesn't want to be burdened with thinking for themselves, but it's in no sense "free."

Christians claim we have free will to choose if we go to hell or not. It can't be free when you have to fear the consequences. That completely conflicts with the definition of free: to give or receive something without an expectation of anything in return. We call giving or receiving of such a thing: a gift.

If I put a gun to your head and say, "you have the free will to not give me your wallet, but if you defy me, I will kill you." This is not free will, it's Circumstantial Will.

If a parent put a gun to their child's head and said, "I want to give you the gift of unconditional love, but if you reject it, I will kill you." This is not a gift, it's conditional love.

You can love people even if they reject it or if you have good reason to not want them in your life.

Some people choose to live in fear and self-rejection, for example.

I tell them that when they are in my presence they are to love me and themselves and not burden me with their low self-esteem. If after compassionately and assertively trying to listen and understand them, to help them to learn to love themselves and they refuse, I often let them go, but love them from a distance. I have enough love and dignity for myself not allow the behavior of others affect me in ways I do not wish to be, but sometimes, it is necessary to let people go. Others you can love and accept as they are by having something better to say when they violate the laws of love.

Becoming something God did not intend that angered him and that with his free will, love and omnipotence he was incapable of still loving us and forgiving us does not make sense. He is supposed to be the ultimate authority of love and compassion, be all-powerful and all-knowing. Yet he somehow is not powerful enough to be infallible in love and compassion or to foresee his creation causing him pain. God would have the power to make eternal life mandatory and hell not an option. So could he also have given us the choice of several good choices, without the choice to choose evil. We are punished BY our sins, not for our sins. We punish ourselves enough with guilt, shame, embarrassment and fear. God does not need to help. Those who are psychotic (have lost contact with reality) and insane (so delusional they cannot distinguish the difference between right and wrong) are products of human abuse.

It's also said that those who go to hell, do it voluntarily, as if it's a consequence not a punishment. The Bible has God declaring that he is the creator of evil, apparently a task only for Satan. Although in this

instance it may mean calamity, he is seen throughout the OT ordering or committing murder and other atrocities. He also created Satan and unleashed him. Never is Satan seen creating evil, but does in fact follow God's own orders to cause trouble. God could have easily blocked the way to the Tree of Knowledge as he did the Tree of Life. If we have become like gods, knowing good and evil, God is also responsible for putting these things into place.

God is in fact guilty of the downfall of humans, as he did not need to make such things that he knew would eventually make him resent creating humanity. He is guilty from the beginning by forgoing with a plan that he knew was doomed at the start before he even created humanity. A just, compassionate omniscient god would have forgone the creation of a prime creation that he knew would piss him off and was doomed to suffer by his own hand.

You don't have to hurt anyone to get to hell. All you have to do is know about Jesus and not accept him as your Savior. It doesn't matter how virtuous you are, how much good you do, how happy an environment you create for others. Given this, the voluntary argument doesn't make sense and the free will concept is self-defeating.

It's also said eternal life is a "free" gift. What is a free gift?

Aren't all gifts free, which fulfills the definition of both words?

Gifts require nothing in return; unconditional means without conditions.

"Free" and "unconditional" gifts do not require works to be done to qualify for the "free" gift.

The requirements for salvation are belief, confession of that belief, maintaining that belief, repenting, being baptized, and performing good works. These are not optional and if you fail to believe in the

doctrine, you not only fail to get the reward, you will be punished as well. Belief is a required response and failure to believe is punished.

A just god who is infallible in love, compassion and forgiveness would have never judged us in the first place, but assuming he did, he would have had the ability to forgive us by his free will without a sacrifice. Love and judgment cannot exist at the same time. A god that is infallible in love and compassion who is judgmental is impossible.

It is claimed that Eve brought evil into the world by disobeying, and with Adam disobeying they rendered God's perfect creation imperfect. God punishes all women after her by making them have difficulties in child birth. Christians also claim we are born in sin as if it is some magical disease we are born with.

God claims he would not make sons and daughters responsible for their parents sins, yet he is seen in the OT killing innocent children for their parents sins or rulers iniquities.

After reading such verses, it would become apparent, even to a child, that this does not describe the actions of a loving Being. Anyone who reconciles the killing of innocent children with an intelligent and loving Creator can only come from great ignorance under the addiction of blind faith and an exaggerated respect for religion.

Why should all women pay for Eve's sin? Why should we be automatically guilty of Adam and Eve's ignorance? Maybe we should take a Christian and convict them of Jack the Ripper's murders. Or maybe we should take a TV Evangelist and stone them to death or crucify them for Hitler's atrocities....The connection here makes no sense at all. Only someone who is delusional and has a split personality could justify punishing a person for someone else's crimes.

The notion that the sacrifice of Jesus dying for our sins and that his death constitutes an appeasement for God's vanity and fallibility to forgive by free will is to rationalize and glorify sadism. This shows God is not ethical or intelligent.

An omniscient god who gives us free will, is incapable of intervening or changing the future and nothing we could do would be against his intentions. Claiming we became something God did not intend is an arrogant claim to say we outsmarted an omniscient, omnipotent god.

Jesus said that bad fruit cannot come from a good tree. If we are imperfect, the ultimate imperfection came from God.

Every choice we have made has been perfect so that we can learn what it is that we need to learn. Fear, shame and an overdose of guilt keep us from learning. There is no greater sin than that of a religion who instills fear and shame into people to keep them from learning. The evidence against Islamic, Judaic and Christian religions being historically guilty of this is monumental. There is no greater arrogance than religious arrogance.

If God is omniscient, nothing we could do would surprise him and therefore it is impossible for him to be jealous, resentful, angry, wrathful, etc. He would understand our ignorance and ability to make mistakes. He would understand that all human emotions and actions derive from love or fear and fear causes people to do horrible things. Help those who can transcend their fear and learn the true meaning of loving action and you have changed their world.

Dealing with people from love in the beginning and learning not to train them to fear so much in the world is how we stop "evil". We don't need fear to teach children how to not be victims. We don't need religion to teach them how to act out of love, be happy and make a difference in the world. The evidence for this is monumental but Christianity refuses to see it.

Calling people good or evil or wicked sinners or that they are more important to God because of belief is to put them in a box and not give them room to change. It's like telling people they are helpless to choose their emotional responses because of genes and chemical imbalances. These are all LIES that disempower people.

An omniscient God with a Plan is impossible as it would render our free will impossible, and a god who knows the future is incapable of changing it, therefore is not omnipotent. The state of humanity is as it is because of human action alone. Those who claim God has intervened are overlooking natural evidence and over-exaggerating claims. God does not heal amputees.

A god who is omniscient, infallible in love, compassion, understanding and forgiveness would never be jealous of other gods, nor be afraid of humanity questioning him. Jealousy is a reflection of the inability to love yourself. A single deity who is jealous of false gods is narcissistic, a god of vanity and who lives in fear.

God is seen ordering Moses to make graven idolatrous images TWICE in the OT. In the OT, there are 3 different versions of the 10 Commandments and 3 different reasons are given why the Sabbath was supposed to be kept holy. Punishment by DEATH was the penalty for breaking any of the Commandments, which morally conflicts with the 6th Commandment, "Thou Shall Not Murder." That Christians can have a double standard about this law shows they cannot distinguish between right and wrong, nor can the biblical God. Only the Son of Lies would deceive his followers to commit the very sins God did not want us to disobey. Remember that Satan deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden.

That salvation is free is a Christian apologetic myth and propaganda to gain converts and a bearing of false witness to what the Bible claims.

This form of holy fire insurance is nothing more than false advertising & should be treated with the same regard one would have when he opens a box of Cracker Jack & digs out the cheap trinket that came as a "free" gift when you purchased the box it came in. "Free" gifts in marketing ploys are a deception to make you think it is worth more than it is.

Given that Jesus reversed legalistic law in favor of love, this would also render NO need for faith and belief in order to have salvation, as God would also favor love over his own laws. Jesus said that the last 6 commandments, about how we treat each other, were needed to be kept to earn eternal life.

They had nothing to do with God, faith or religious observance. By the end of John, He was down to a New Commandment and Covenant, which by definition is meant to supersede and fulfill the old. He said "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

As Paul claimed that the New Commandment, "love thy neighbor as thyself" summed up and fulfilled the laws of how to treat others. To earn eternal life you do not need to know about God, or Jesus or have faith.

All human emotions, motives and actions derive from love or fear. There is no good or evil. These are judgments that do not exist in the world. There is only love or fear.

All humans are born with the natural capacity of love and compassion. We are only born with two fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises; all other fears are LEARNED. Fear is an illusion and all fears boil down to a fear of death. Transcend the fear of death and you transcend all fears, therefore removing the illusion of needing reasons to be happy and removing the blockages of the natural ability to love freely without judgment.

Integrity, honesty, acceptance, appreciation, kindness, compassion, empathy, honor, respect, forgiveness, curiosity, understanding, happiness, etc; all of these are love.

Anger, sadness, depression, confusion, frustration, prejudice, guilt, shame, self-worthlessness, judgment, hate, jealousy; etc.: all of these are based on fear.

Love is the only truth. LOVE IS THE ONLY MORAL WE NEED. When you come from love you can never be wrong, proved wrong or argued with. You always know the right thing to do. Love is the my only truth, so how can I be wrong? Fear is not an option.

Understanding the motives and actions of others by love or fear, you have the compassion to not judge but help them deal with fear-based emotions with love and compassion.

Can you deal with people from a position of love and compassion? If you can't it is because you are judging them and judgment is just a reflection of something you do not like about yourself.

Christians, for example, judge pro-abortionist and violence in movies, music and other religions. They judge Islamic religion for claiming holy wars and murder in the name of Allah. How does that judgment reflect back on them?

God is seen hundreds of times in the OT ordering the murder of men, women and children including unborn babies. God becomes the worst mass murderer of all time during the Great Flood, commits a string of murders making him the worst serial killer in history and his prophets with the Israelites are seen to kill every man, woman and child in over 100 towns, while pillaging and burning these towns in the name of God. Contrary to the claim that most Christians believe, they were not murdered because they were wicked. Most of these atrocities were ordered for ridiculous and unjust reasons. King David and his army commits atrocities that rival the Holocaust by killing people with weapons and burning them in a brickkiln. Hitler, who was also a zealous Catholic Christian who's anti-Semitism stemmed from the churches beliefs and Martin Luther, whom Hitler admired, is considered the most evil person to ever live, but God's prophets and King David are considered to be "moral" and "just". Hitler was not only a Catholic but was supported by the Vatican.

What makes the biblical God more special than any other murderous deity? What makes Christians think their double standards are more just than Islamic religion whom they judge for the same reasons? What makes the violence in the Bible or the prophecy of the Armageddon that is told with tones of war, belligerence and violence more moral than in movies and music?

Christians who are angry and use hate speech to judge others for these things are only really angry at themselves. The World Is Your Mirror. Christians are just projecting their own self-image on to others. People usually are what they hate.

How does the judgment from Christian zealots who claim America is a Christian Nation that is being threatened by secularists who persecute them for their beliefs (ie, being judgmental, having double standards about war and murder, etc) reflect back on them How does their claim that their religious practice is being threatened while trying to force Christian beliefs in public places and school, and who sit on their high horse judging down on how others live reflect back on them?

They themselves are threatening the freedom of religion of others, and trying to make the very Christian monarchy of unification of church and state that the very first settlers from England and Europe were fleeing from! Though the first settlers were Christians, they came here to establish RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE with no national religion and no unification of church and state, the very principal the 1st Amendment of the Constitution and its Establishment Clause clearly states.

The Treaty of Tripoli in 1796 drafted by George Washington and signed into law by John Adams states that the U.S. is in no way a Christian Nation, and speaks against the idea of prohibiting religious beliefs.

However, Free Speech does not include hate speech and Freedom of Religion does not justify prejudice, hatred, being judgmental and rationalizing, justifying and worshiping sadism. Satan is the Christian image of the human ego, and there is no better way of deceiving people than by giving your God and Savior sadistic attributes and claiming to be "moral" and "holy divine mysteries", while teaching people to fear questioning what they are taught.

Private Prayer and reading of the bible has not been outlawed in school, but its forceful teachings have been since children in the past have had horrible nightmares by teachers telling them graphics details of how they could go to Hell.

A just and intelligent god who is love would favor loving action over beliefs and faith. Beliefs are nothing more than excuses to have faith in things that cannot be verified as the truth. Claiming things by faith without questioning them from a skeptics point of view, is only opening the door to be misled.

Anyone who claims to question what churches teach, yet still has the same contradicting beliefs and same patterns of thinking by trying to rationalize contradictions and sadism is just predictable and immoral as the last Christian I have encountered.

If heaven and eternal life were true in the sense Christians believe, those that claim there are requirements of belief are liars according to the New Commandment and Covenant Jesus made.

Anyone who claims there are "requirements" to earn a gift that is "free" in the same sentence or discussion.... is a false prophet.

Those who choose to remain ignorant and use excuses that it's all about faith, belief, agreeing to disagree or who are immune to acknowledging their double standards are only trying to rationalize sadism, and are afraid of the truth "creating doubt" because they are not lovers of the truth. People study the Bible to understand God, but when you question the clear nonsense of the biblical God, they claim that they don't think we can truly understand God, yet they also try to tell you how church has told them to understand God. When they get stuck or confused in the face of truth, it's all about faith again. This immunity to questioning blind faith out of exaggerated respect for religion and to justify sadism is surely the work of Satan himself or the Bible was written by fallible humans who have made an image of God in their own image to justify their immorality by an invisible man in the sky with higher power.

Christians claim atheists are fools. But who is the fool? The fool is the one who believes impossible things and calls them "divine mysteries."

Christians fundamentalists are the same hypocrites and deceived masses that Jesus boldly and assertively scolded through the NT.

Is The United States a Christian Nation?

The United States was never a Christian nation and was never founded on Christianity or Christian principles. Although many early colonies were made up of Christian sects, they were all of different denominations and all were leaving England and other parts of Europe to escape persecution by the Christian governed British Parliament and Catholic/Vatican ruled Roman government. The colonies had Puritans in Massachusetts and Virginia, Jews in New York and Rhode Island, Quakers in New Jersey, Roman Catholics in Maryland, Germans and other Europeans in Pennsylvania which had a diversity of religious sects, etc.

However, there were also atheists and deists in America's colonies. Deism was very popular during the birth of the United Colonies, most of the Founding Fathers were deists. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, among many others, held Deist, rather than Christian, religious beliefs. Some Founding Fathers were Christians, but some were also agnostics and atheists.

Deism was a popular system of thought in the 18^th century; the belief that a supernatural Power originally created the universe but does not currently manage its day-to-day operation or intervene personally into human affairs. They often found the bible to be ridiculous and absurd, because of it's incredible claims and because of the hundreds of thousands of people that God ordered to be murdered or killed himself because of ridiculous reasons in the Bible. They believed in a Creator God, but did not belief in the Bible or Jesus' divinity.

The VERY reason different Christians, Deists and atheists came to America was to escape persecution by the Christian controlled government over religious beliefs. The United States was not founded on Christian principles but partly with the intention of RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE, the free right to practice religion or the free right to NOT BELIEVE.

Ministers and TV Evangelists today often claim that Christians are under persecution for many things and that the Christian Nation is under threat. When, in fact, it is non-believers, science, evolution and real history that is under persecution and the Christian Right which is presenting revisionist history to promote their own political agenda.

It is often claimed that prayer and the reading of the Bible have been outlawed in schools and debate continues to have the 10 Commandments posted in schools and public places. But the Christian Right is ignoring the two documents that the U.S. was founded on.

If one dismisses all preconceived historical inaccuracies and Christian propaganda, then an extraordinary and very revealing fact emerges:

The two documents upon which our country was actually founded—i.e., the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States—contain not a single word about Christianity, Christian principles, the Bible or Jesus Christ. Nor is there any mention at all of the Ten Commandments, Heaven, Hell or being saved. Not a word! The phrase “they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights” was a reference to the Deist Creator, rather than the God of Christianity.

The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress.

The Christian clergy of the Revolutionary period tried again and again to have references to Christianity inserted directly into the U.S. Constitution, but they were refused every time by the Founders. It is no coincidence therefore that there is no reference at all to Christianity or to the bible in the two documents which founded the United States of America. It is historically incorrect to claim that America was “founded upon Christianity.”

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech and infringing on the freedom of the press.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances “

It is against the law for Congress to prohibit an individual from reading the Bible or praying in school. MANDATORY Bible reading and prayer, however, has been banned, because in the past little children were terrified by having teachers explain to them that if they didn't behave they were going to burn in Hell, and because of the First Amendment, no one can be forced to practice a religion that do not wish to. Reading of the Bible was only practiced in school many decades ago, only as a reading tool, never as a religious teaching, or history book.

It is a false statement that is circulating that prayer and reading of the Bible has been banned in schools and when “persecuted” for actions that are actually hate/prejudice crimes, Religious Right people always use freedom of speech as an excuse. Freedom of religion, speech and expression does not validate hate crimes, even for the religious. Clearly any so-called Christian who cannot treat others with love and compassion is judging them and is not following the religion that Christ taught, is violating the New Commandment and the New Covenant He gave.

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion by the Congress or the preference of one religion over another, non-religion over religion, or religion over non-religion. Originally, the First Amendment only applied to the federal government. Subsequently, under the incorporation doctrine, certain selected provisions were applied to states. However, it was not until the middle and later years of the twentieth century that the Supreme Court began to interpret the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses in such a manner as to restrict the promotion of religion by state governments. For example, in the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687 (1994), Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion."

The Christian Right often tries to violate the First Amendment and Establishment Clause by trying to have the 10 Commandments put into public places, to pass laws promotion mandatory praying and reading of the Bible in schools, by making claims of the United States being an established Christian Nation and by having creationism and Intelligent Design taught in schools.

In 1797 the United States ratified the Treaty of Tripoli, which was negotiated by George Washington and signed by his successor, John Adams.

Article 11 of the Treaty of Triploi has been a point of contention in disputes on the doctrine of separation of church and state as it applies to the founding principles of the United States.

Article 11 of the Treaty of Triploi reads:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Musselmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Advocates of the separation of church and state claim that this text constitutes evidence that the United States Government was not founded on the Christian religion. The Senate's ratification was only the third recorded unanimous vote of 339 votes taken. The treaty was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and two New York papers, with no evidence of any public dissent.

During the Presidential campaign of 1800, Jefferson was labeled “a howling atheist” by his pollitical opponents. Thomas Paine—author of the Revolution-inspiring pamphlet Common Sense and craftsman of the immortal phrase “These are the time that try men's souls”-- wrote an entire book while he was awaiting the guillotine (but was later released) called The Age of Reason (still in print), which directly attacked and rejected the bible as being the Word of God.

Two “Christian principles” may indeed have influenced the Founding Fathers as they wrote the Declaration and Constitution. One “Christian principle” all too fresh in mind was the Puritan's practice (in Massachusetts and Virginia) of executing “witches.” Jefferson wrote in Autobiography that “Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined or imprisoned.” From the early days of the Roman Catholic's Crusades, through the Inquisitions and Reformations throughout Europe, the Colonial witch hunts, millions of people had been judged, persecuted, tortured, fined and murdered in the name of God.

The second “Christian” influence over the Founding Fathers was King George III's absolute mandate that his subjects worship in a manner approved by the Church of England. Witch burning and mandatory church affiliation, among other factors, led the Founding Fathers to establish a “Wall of Separation of Church and State,” allowing, at each citizen's discretion, the freedom of religion or freedom of religion.

So whom shall we believe? Pulpit-pounding TV evangelists who claim America was founded upon Christianity? Or should we give the benefit of the doubt to George Washington and a unanimous Congress at the time our nation began? Let's carefully reread their legal affirmation: “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” (The original text of the Treaty of Tripoli is available for your personal examination at almost any public library and is easily found on the Internet.)

The national motto didn't mention the words “In God We Trust” until 1956, 180 years after the founding of our nation. Likewise, the phrase “under God” was not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954. These are also not evidence that this nation was founded on Christianity, but as with the mention of a “Creator” in the Declaration, Christian Fundamentalists try to use these as “evidence” that the United States was founded on Christianity. These claims, however, are also, untrue.

Modern-day conservative propaganda about the “Christian birth of our nation” is therefore just as erroneous and self-serving as Christian pronouncements of the birth of the universe. In both cases, “men of God” completely ignore the actual evidence at hand and conjure up a fictitious tale. They then spread the myth, along with fabricated evidence, and repeat the myth so frequently that it is soon accepted uncritically by the citizenry.

Fortunately, the United States has historically chosen its leaders democratically. To be elected, a political candidate must give lip service to the prevailing religious view at the moment, regardless of his own true opinions. We may therefore easily dig up Scripture-laced quotations from almost any political figured in American history, pandering for votes from Christian believers. So it si only through looking behind the scenes-- at private correspondence or statements uttered after leaving office-- that an accurate historical picture may be drawn.

Atheists Who Become Religious On Their Deathbed

Fundamentalists often claim that Charles Darwin renounced his theory of evolution on his death bed, in a way to claim that evolution is false.

They also claim that Thomas Paine, who played an integral role in the American Revolution, and wrote a famous attack on Christianity called, the Age of Reason, that he recanted his atheism on his death bed. Paine wrote the Age of Reason while awaiting the guillotine, but was later released from prison. His recantation was a rumor started by Puritans.

There are many bogus stories of atheists recanting their disbelief on their death bed circulating by dishonest evangelists. As with science, Scripture, history and their own beliefs, fundamentalists have selective observation, focusing only on things that support their claims of God, Jesus and the Bible, while ignoring, denying, down playing and revisioning any evidence that proves these ideas to be false.

If you actually read your Bible and question what you've been taught, you will find that the versions of biblical stories in churches and Christian books/propaganda are not in the Bible. They all contain details not in the Bible and they all leave out the details that contradict their versions of the stories.

An unexamined faith based on belief without evidence that cannot stand up to science, reason and critical criticism is a useless faith.

What's the worst that can happen if there is no God?

Your thoughts will be of your own private affair. You will be responsible for your thoughts, emotional responses and actions. It will mean that instead of judging, persecuting, blaming, pitying, hurting and segregating people because of religious conviction or beliefs because “my God loves me more than you because I believe,” you will have to take care of and serve each other, for there is no one else looking out for us. It means that the only choice you have is to learn unconditional love and compassion at a level that would make Jesus look like a beginner. It means that you need to pay attention to how you can help others today, instead of awaiting some grand war to end the suffering of the world or to get “ultimate revenge”, a.k.a. “eternal justice” for the acts of fear that have brought terror, pain and unjustice in the world.

It means that you will have to learn to deal with your fear based emotions and actions with love and compassion, and to learn how to understand yourself and others on a social and psychological level. It means that instead of giving your money to religious affiliates (churches, evangelists, religious schools, etc); you can donate money to feed the hungry, for medical research and other organizations that help those in need and advance our society, instead of holding it back. While religious propaganda has supported the idea for 2000 years that a Savior is come to save the world and who has treated science as a threat and has held it back, it is sciences that have brought us space exploration, medical cures and treatments, environment and human resource development, physical science discoveries, etc.

It means admitting that the idea of spreading apathy through spreading the word of waiting for a God to change things is ignorant and useless to humanity. It means helping others find their own abilities and skills to use in the service to the community, to teach them their ability to choose their own emotional responses, use their personal power to make critical and educated decisions that solve problems and help their life, environment and the life of others prosper. It means teaching them how to change their own character, demeanor, and understand their emotional nature and their nature within the world. It is demonstratable that religion has continuously contributed to the social ignorance or atrophying of these matters of human development.

It means re-evaluating the mainstream knowledge we know about social interaction, relationships, child-rearing, politics, critical thinking and cognitive abilities, social interdependence, creating win-win solutions, dealing with all people with love and compassion instead of contempt, destructive criticism, segregation, guilt, shame, fear, and prejudice.

The idea that, God, who is claimed to be the Ultimate authority of love and compassions is also a jealous, angry, prejudice and vain God is impossible. God is claimed to have put everything into place that caused the fall from grace, then foregone with a creation he had foreseen was doomed and would regret after creating it. Although he foresaw the very thing that He didn't want, he continued to create it regardless. He is accredited with having a plan for everything, which means that humans free will is nil since it is predestined, but yet humans somehow became something he didn't intend, which means he could not have planned it. If he foresaw these events and foregone with his plan anyway, he could not have become angry or regretful. If he was angry and regretted his creation, surely he created something imperfect that he didn't plan because his own vanity blinded his foresight. He also manages to be fallible in love, compassion, empathy and powerless to forgive by his own free will. To appease his vanity and responsibility, he required the torture, sacrifice and blood-letting of his incarnated self, a.k.a., his only son. This whole premise makes no sense. A just God infallible in love, benevolence and kindness could not do such things.

It is often said by believers (when they are faced with questions or facts that cause them to examining their faith or contradicting beliefs) that humans are incapable of understanding God by our own reasoning, but if this is true then why do believers spend so much time in church and reading the bible to do that very thing? From the late 4^th century in the Roman Empire to at least the late 16^th century in England, owning and reading copies of Latin and English bibles was only allowed by priests. Most people were illiterate until the mid-18^th century and it was considered heresy to own copies of the bible. This gave the church power because it was only through them that the bible could be interpreted and the common law society didn't have the power to discern the Scripture for themselves. The printing press was invented in the mid-15^th century which allowed more copies to be printed but it wasn't until the mid-19^th century that paper and books became affordable to all classes of the industrialized society.

Today, we are taught to fear a God who is supposed to be the Ultimate and Inerrant Authority of love and benevolence, which is ridiculous at best. Why would you fear love? Surely, the ideas of pain, suffering and fear associated and misunderstood as love in our society has stemmed from religion. The fear of getting hurt by love or being afraid of love is very ignorant. Putting oneself down by saying things like, “I'm nothing without Jesus,” is surely a sign of ignorance and delusions of worthlessness.

We are taught to not critically discern what the Bible says all the while we think Christendom propaganda is teaching us how to do so. Upon a critical reading of the bible or when science and reason make what church tells us look ignorant and erroneous and we get confused about how it is supposed to be understood, we are told its not what you can prove but what you believe through a leap of faith. Isn't this the same tactics used by cults?

In science, its not what you believe but what you can prove, so for the bible to be scientifically correct, you have to prove it. You cannot claim it is without evidence and just expect someone to provide evidence that its false. Science doesn't work that way.

While throughout churches and missionaries across the world there is great differences in interpretation and still a large amount of mistranslation and misinterpretation by most churches in the U.S and in the bibles used by them.

For examples, the Nativity Scene is not a story written in the bible. In other work, I provide evidence of how it was created by St. Francis of Assisi which can be looked up on the Internet. Another example is theologians have been teaching for centuries now that Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-17 give us a perfect explanation of how a perfect Lucifer changed himself into Lucifer the Devil, but this is erroneous as Lucifer was a title applied to the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12 and appears no where else in the bible. In all Hebrew or Aramaic texts of Isa. 14:12, the only word found is "heh-lehl," eill, which is a form of the Hebrew stem "yah-lahl," ill, meaning howl. There are 29 other renderings of the word that is found in the "Hebrew" texts and transliterations of its various forms and in every occurrence in the entire KJV Bible they all mean howl. Ezekiel 28:12-17 it is the king of Tyrus and not Satan who is being addressed in this lamentation. There are scriptures that tell us that Satan sinned and was a murderer from the beginning but there is no scriptural evidence of Satan being Lucifer or of Satan being an archangel.

We are, in fact, still being taught to not actually read the Bible in its entirety, but are taught to interpret it with selective details that have created Sunday School versions of stories that are not written in the Bible. The popular versions have ignored some facts in the bible, or are a version of two different accounts of the same story that have conflicting details or are stories not written in the bible.

It is also said that humans are helpless before God to change their own character, to make change in the world and to control their own life without God. Science, especially, various psychology has proven the opposite. If God was real and truly loved us, he would give us the cognitive, intellectual and emotional tools to solve our own problems, to hypothesis questions that bring us new knowledge to evolve our ability to serve others and manage our environment. Certainly illiteracy and the misunderstandings of the world around us could cause humans to sin (make mistakes from ignorance) without the need of a devil, which is why the ideas of gods and devils has been an explanation, since ancient times, of that which cannot be explained until science gives us the answers. This is not the Dark Ages anymore, its the age of Information and Illumination (shining light on the nature of the universe, earth, life and humanity so that we may understand its harmony, balance, workings and interdependence)

Only a God of vanity would want us to think he wants us to accept and worship him with free will and free choice, but make it impossible to do so by not giving us the reasoning, critical thinking skills, behavior and character building skills, ability to understand him, and to place ideas of prejudice and segregation by placing emphasis on belief and faith rather than how we treat each other. Only a God of vanity would tell us we have free will, but in reality make it circumstantial will. How can we have free will if we are incapable of understanding God by our own reason, and if he has a plan for everything, and if we don't have to cognitive thinking skills to change our own character, to learn from mistakes without guilt, shame or fear or have to take believing only by faith without evidence? How can we know if we aren't being decieved, otherwise?

These claims that we are helpless, etc. are nothing more than an insult to our intelligence.

Only a God of vanity would care more about people believing in him, sending those who don't to torture, than care more about how we serve and love each other. Only a God of vanity would send those who have never heard of his word and of Jesus who cannot make the choice by free will to accept or reject him to eternal torture. A deity infallible in love and compassion cannot be judgmental, or create a hell while knowing most humans were already doomed to go there, or order and commit murder of innocent men, women, children and unborn children as God does throughout the OT. (For those shocked that this claim is made, a HUGE list of Scriptures can be provided as proof.)

Matthew 7:18, Luke 6:43 – Someone once said that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit. The idea that Adam/Eve's disobedience rendered God's creation imperfectand that humanity is somehow inheritably guilty of their sins makes no sense. You cannot be a sinner from birth. You have to sin to actually become a sinner.

Only an imperfect God could create imperfect humans.

A just God would not punish someone else for your sins or you for someone else's sins. A just God would not condemn most of humanity to infinite torment for a finite crime of disbelief. A just God who did not want any of his creation to perish for eternity would certainly never have forgone with a creation he knew was doomed by his own hand. Certainly humankind was capable of sinning on their own, so why would God need to loose Satan to tempt us? Satan did not rebel against God, he is seen in the bible doing only what God allowed Satan to do. Jesus was the one who rebeled against God's old laws, subverting laws for love and subverting judgment for compassion.

Because of Adam and Eve's sins God punished future generations in that women were given pains in labor and men must toil the ground as punishment. Why did the rest of humanity get punished for Adam and Eve's sins?

Perhaps we should take an evangelist and behead them for Hitler's Holocaust, seeing as Hitler was raised in a Catholic monastery, was an alter boy, learned his anti-Semitism in church, was supported by the Vatican and became the leader of the German Church who forced religion to be taught in schools, public and the military. Or perhaps we should take a random Christian and feed them to the lions for Jack the Ripper's murders. As with the sins of Adam and Eve, somehow being passed down magically to every person as they are born as if some physical disease, instantly rendering them a sinner....the connections don't make any sense.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that we all live in the Garden of Eden as young children? Not knowing good or evil, but “eating from the tree of knowledge of god and evil” as we are taught by the world their subjective misconceptions and judgments of existence? Is it not written that you must be humble and converted like a child to enter heaven, that you must keep the one commandment “Love thy neighbor” and that the kingdom is already here and within you?

Many people claim that only through faith and belief we are saved through Christ, but how can faith and belief be more important than being responsible for your own character, emotions, thoughts, and actions or more important than how you treat others? Certainly, if you believe but still judge others, do not serve others, are mean or prejudice to others or use threats when faced with non-believers, this does not sound like someone who is suddenly changed by the loving grace of God. It is ridiculous to claim that only God can control these things.

Only people with forked tongues could hate and be intolerant of “humanism” and “humanist ideas.” Only those afraid self-examination, of being responsible for their lives and to go out into the community and be helpful think that anyone who doesn't “let God take care of it” are fools. It's easy to claim things happen because of God instead of taking the responsibility of human action.

“Humanism intolerance” is the worst racism. Superficial people spend so much time over “racist remarks” and “actions from racism” but allow the worst racists to spit their lies mixed with cow dung from their mouths. Ethnic groups are just that, different ethnic groups of the only one race, the human race. They are not different races. The only true racist, and the worst of them all, is the bigot who judges, condemns and puts down humans and humanism. Its easy to stand behind a pulpit or in front of a TV camera and look down on others, instead of doing what Jesus did and treat the poor and sick with as much love as the rich and healthy.

People often claim that if you don't believe in God and he isn't real, you have nothing to lose, but if don't and he is, then you have lost everything. They say that if you do believe and he isn't real, then you have lost nothing but a few fantasies but if he is real then you have gained everything. This argument is known as Pascal's Wager and I disagree with this argument.

David Mills (an ex-Christian), in his book “Atheist Universe” writes:

“Blaise Pascal, a 17^th century French philosopher articulated an argument known as Pascal's Wager. If an atheist is right that there is no God, Heaven, or Hell; then you have nothing to gain. But if you're wrong, then you've lost your soul for eternity. On the other hand, if a person believes in God, then he has everything to gain and nothing to lose. If he's right, then he'll go to heaven. If he's wrong about there being a God, then he'll at least have looked forward to going to heaven even if he merely rots in the ground beside you.

There are several fallacies with this argument. The most obvious is that the same argument can be applied to any religion-- not just Christianity. For example, I could say that, since we have everything to gain and nothing to lose by converting to Islam, we should all become Muslims. Or since we have everything to gain and nothing to lose by being a Hindu, we should all adopt Hinduism. Christians never stop to consider that they are in just as much danger of going to Muslim hell as an atheist is in danger of going to the Christian hell.

Pascal's Wager is also flawed in its premise that a person has everything to gain, and nothing to lose, by converting to a religion. The fact is, whether we like it or not, our earthly life is the only life [we have evidence for] that we are going to experience. If we sacrifice this one life in dormant subservience to a nonexistent god, then we have lost everything!”

Although I agree with David Mills, I also contend, however, that there is a bigger fallacy with this argument.

God is said to be jealous, angry, and anyone who doesn't believe in him or his son goes to hell/purgatory/lake of fire/Hades. Only a God of vanity would care more about whether you believe in him or not, than how you treat people. For a God of love would care more about how you serve and love others, rather than if you believed in him or not. Only a god of vanity would want subservient doormats, who put themselves down to raise him up and who think they cannot change their own behavior or character without him. A god of love would give us all the tools to learn to mold our own character, to learn from our own experiences and give us the free will and creativity to follow our own paths. Only a God of vanity would have plans for us for his own selfish entertainment.

It is better to not believe in God and treat others with love, compassion, empathy, understanding, kindness and consideration than to believe in God and treat others with judgment, prejudice, pity and anger. For if God has the same attributes as Satan, i.e., angry, jealous, vain, etc....then surely he is not the ultimate bringer of love, compassion and benevolence, or it is Satan posing as God or God's existence is impossible because no object can hold contradicting mutually-exclusive attributes at the same time and the biblical God was created by fallible men.

Only Satan would be jealous, angry and be so vain and unjust as to judge people for the simple act of not believing in him and condemn them to infinite pain for the finite crime of disbelief, but the bible claims this is God's doing.

Only Satan would convince of us of circumstantial will by the use of threats or make us think that we are unworthy of being forgiven or loved, just because we make mistakes. Threats are the hallmark of the wicked, and they are also one of the lamest Bible arguments. “There will be a 'time' when we will all have all the 'evidence' we need to prove our beliefs correct or wrong. By then it may be too late." or "I will dance with glee in Heaven as you roast in Hell!"

A God who would create a hell, or allow any good person to fall there by mere error, would be a wicked god by definition, and anyone who admired such a god would be just as wicked, and therefore those Christians who admire such are truly “terrorfying”. They have taken evil and called it good, under the banner of self-righteousness, and by this they justify the most horrible ideas and wishes--and then have the gall to pretend they believe in love.

Only Satan would use guilt, shame, fear and threats of damnation for non-believers, while rewarding believers who judge and persecute others, who have changed the stories and context of the Bible for their own agendas, who use threats of Hell or hate on anyone they deem to choose as targets.

Only Satan would teach people to be afraid of questioning him or his word, and to be afraid of any scientific evidence, historical evidence or reasoning that “creates doubt.” Only Satan would want us to blindly follow him and be too afraid to examine our beliefs, to question those on the pulpit, and to take everything in without critically thinking about it.

If you believe in God, but are wicked to others and that can be as simple as telling someone that they are doomed unless they believe in God, if there is no God, you have done more damage than a non-believer who acts out of love!

I don't care if you believe in God or not, because what I do know, is that even if Jesus did exist, if you are going to follow his teachings, you have to subvert laws for love and act out of love. Only a God of love would care more about how we treat each other, regardless of whether you believe in him or not. If God does exist and is love, I know he cannot have these horrible attributes also attributed to the devil.

Considering the persecution of non-believers by Christians since its post-pagan times starting in Roman Catholicism, I would contend that assuming God, and Jesus are real; either the Bible was written by judgmental fallible humans or inspired by the devil himself, or Christianity since Rome converted has been corrupt and led by the very Devil himself.

Whether you believe or not, if you have not love, you have nothing and lost everything!

If God does exist and you've wasted your time praying or trying to convert people, instead of doing what you can to feed, clothe, employ and nurture people, you have wasted your whole life. By serving others, you are serving God. Serving people doesn't mean subserviently praying for them or trying to pressure them into converting.

If God doesn't exist, and you have wasted your time praying instead of doing what you can to feed, clothe, employ and nurture people, you have wasted your entire life.

Whether God exists or not, if you have wasted your life not serving the people that you know are real, you have lost everything and have gained nothing.