Failed Dogma

 

The god imagined in the bible is truly pathetic. He demands human sacrifice, worship, and unquestioning obedience. This god makes mistakes, gets angry, gets jealous, murders innocent people, and is generally cruel to his creation. Christians practice an amazing amount of cognitive dissonance to re-imagine this god as good. For example, the bible clearly condones chattel slavery which most Christians would agree is evil. So, Christians will falsely assert it must have been a better kind of slavery in the bible so it's somehow acceptable. Again and again, believers will twist scripture to make it less uncomfortable. This coping mechanism makes the religion wildly dishonest.

 

Fail! Christianity is a cult of human sacrifice and blood magic.

In Genesis 22, Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac to Yahweh (Yes, we know a substitution was provided at the last moment but still God ordered a child sacrifice to be made). Jephthah’s daughter was actually sacrificed to Yahweh (Judges 11). And most famously, Yahweh required the man Jesus to be sacrificed.

Ex 13:2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.”

Lev 27:28 “Nothing that a person owns that has been devoted to destruction for the Lord, be it human or animal or inherited landholding, may be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. 29 No human beings who have been devoted to destruction can be ransomed; they shall be put to death.

Yep! Yahweh demands humans and animals to be sacrificed on his altar.

Heb 10:10 And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Heb 9:²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

God says blood is magical! Blood has power! Blood is how you atone for your sins!

Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar, for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement. 

Yahweh loves blood! He likes it splashed around His altar! The scent of burning flesh and blood brings Him pleasure!

Lev 1: You shall lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be acceptable on your behalf as atonement for you. 5 The bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into its parts. 7 The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the parts, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, 9 but its entrails and its legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall turn the rest into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.

If you asked most Christians what pagan god worship looked like in biblical times, they would describe something very similar to what the scriptures above illustrated; human sacrifice and blood rituals. Ironic, isn’t it?

 

Fail! Only half of Protestant pastors trust the bible with their world view.

In a national Barna survey of Protestant pastors, only 51% reported having a biblical worldview which he defines as believing that absolute moral truth exists, that it is based upon the Bible, and having a biblical view on six core beliefs (the accuracy of biblical teaching, the sinless nature of Jesus, the literal existence of Satan, the omnipotence and omniscience of God, salvation by grace alone, and the personal responsibility to evangelize). Let that sink in! Only half of pastors trust the bible here. If it’s a problem for so many of them, it should be a problem for you.

https://www.barna.com/research/only-half-of-protestant-pastors-have-a-biblical-worldview/

 

Fail! God created the mess and then blamed humans for it.

The planet is a mess because of man's sin nature, right? Most Christians will assert that Yahweh is a god of unlimited powers. If God is all-knowing, then he knows absolutely every moment from the beginning of time to the end of time. If God is all-powerful, he chooses how all moments in time will happen. If he doesn't want something to happen, it won't. This means everything that has ever taken place, is taking place and will take place, is exactly as God intended. He is in absolute control. To assert otherwise is to claim God is not all powerful.

It follows then that God knew man would sin before he created him but still chose to create him exactly the way he did. God knew the snake would successfully tempt Eve and still put them together in the garden. God knew Eve would eat from the forbidden tree and he still put it within her reach. God knew, before the creation, every evil that would occur and still put it in motion. God knew that some people would not believe in him and would suffer eternal torture. Still, he created them. It is unreasonable to assert that humans are responsible for the circumstances we find ourselves in. If we are doomed or saved, sick or healthy, poor or rich, it's exactly because God intended it to be that way. So stop fighting baby bone cancer! God wanted it to happen. If god is good then baby bone cancer is good and you should rejoice when the diagnosis is made.  For Christians to reason this way is disgusting!

Isa 46:8 Remember this and consider, recall it to mind, you transgressors; 9 remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me,10 declaring the outcome from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention,”

 

Fail! God is a hypocrite.

God says feed the poor but then lets nine million people starve to death each year. God says ‘let the children come to me’ but then orders the murder of infants in his conquest of Canaan. God says don’t rape married women but then orders the rape of David’s ten wives. God says humans have free will but then  hardens Pharaoh’s heart. God says love your neighbor but then condones chattel slavery. God says he is love and mercy but then tortures non-believers without mercy forever. God says don’t sacrifice humans but then commands the sacrifice of Isaac, Jephthah’s daughter, Jesus and multitudes of unnamed first-borns.

 

Fail! Christianity removes all personal responsibility from the believer.

This failure does not fully apply to the Catholic Church as they believe good works and obedience are necessary for salvation. However, most Protestants believe they are saved only by grace. If this is true, the run-of-the-mill child rapist/murderer need only accept Jesus as his savior, moments before he is executed, and he will spend eternity in heaven. The skeptic, on the other hand, can lead an exceptional life of service and he/she will be tortured for eternity for simply failing to believe in a specific mythology. Belief is not a choice. This imagined god is absolutely unjust!

 

Fail! There is no free will under the threat of eternal torment, and hell is unreasonable and unnecessary.

A person has no free will to choose while under a credible threat. The god of the New Testament says 'Love me. Worship me. Obey me. If you don't, I will torture you without mercy for eternity.' Obviously, a choice cannot be freely made under this horrific threat. Imagine soaking a person with gasoline, lighting a match and telling them they are free to love you or not but if they choose not to, you will set them on fire. This is the love of an evil god! Now, consider that in Christian theology, God sacrificed himself, to himself, in order to save us from himself for rules he made himself. Crazy! The Hebrews didn't believe this. Besides, the fact that we are not free to choose what we believe makes this dogma nonsense. It is the death knell for Christian theology.

Which better explains the Christian belief of hell? Torturing people eternally for finite sins is the act of a loving, just and merciful god. Or, the threat of eternal torment is a fantastic sales tool for a religion that seeks to terrify people into embracing it. The church needs to keep the pews full if the money is to keep pouring in.

 

Fail! Christians can’t trust they will be saved from hell.

Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’

Pay attention, Christians! The dogma that you are safe from hell by taking Jesus as your savior is false. The text is clear that you must do the will of Yahweh to enter heaven. Jesus says follow the law or he will reject you. Stop fornicating outside of marriage, being selfish with your wealth, and judging others. If not, you’ll be joining the non-believers in hell. Or, you can engage your brain and see this religion as the grift that  it is.

 

Fail! The trinity is a contradiction and contradictions can't exist.

In order for something to be 100% something, it must possess 100% of its characteristics. If it does NOT possess 100% of the characteristics, it is not identical. God's necessary qualities are that he is all-powerful and all-knowing. Jesus is NOT all-knowing. Therefore, Jesus is not god. He could be a different god or lesser god. The law of contradictions states that contradictory propositions cannot both be true at the same time and in the same respect.

Mat 24:36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

 

Fail! Jesus didn't pay the full price for our sins.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christians widely agree the death spoken of here is eternal. Jesus was dead for three days and then resurrected. If he paid the full price for our sins, he would still be dead. For example, if you are fined $1,000 by a court for an offense you committed, and a friend steps in and pays $3 of the total fine, your penalty is not satisfied. Simple logic.

 

Fail! We can't trust the New Testament is the same as the original scriptures.

Christians often claim the bible is perfect. If God performed the miracle of inspiring scripture, he certainly didn't perform the miracle of preserving it. The most recent complete copy of the New Testament is from the 4th century CE! That's a problem. Even our earliest fragments don't date back to the time they claim to speak of. Fragment P52 is the earliest and it dates to 100-125 CE. With hundreds of years missing between the events and our manuscripts, nobody can be certain it wasn't significantly changed. When scholars compare the numerous fragments we have discovered, they determined there were about 400,000 variations. There are only about 184,000 words in most translations of the NT.  It is simply not reliable.

 

Fail! Christians often claim their denomination is the correct one. 

There are over 40,000 distinct denominations of Christianity worldwide, so obviously there is widespread disagreement on who is doing it right. Why would god create a book that results in so much division? Where's the holy spirit that's supposed to be guiding the hearts of Christians towards truth. Not working apparently. If the bible is the word of god, and our foundation for knowing him, then god is inept at communicating with us. This religion is just a human construct; created because life is hard and death is scary.

 

Fail! God often values the free will of the evil-doer over the free will of the innocent person.

The god of the bible often takes the side of evil. For example, a woman is walking down the street late at night. It's her free will not to be raped and murdered. An evil man desires to do exactly that to her. Does God intervene and save her? Often, he does not and she becomes a victim. God could intervene to protect her but chooses not to. This is despicable. Would you end terminal child cancer if you had the power? Almost certainly you would. Christians believe their god could do it but alas, he does not. Is this god mysterious? No. He is either imaginary or evil.

 

Fail! God hides from his children.

A good father would never hide from his child. He would be present, visible, engaged and accessible. This is NOT the bible god! Today, Yahweh doesn’t speak, reveal himself, or make himself known in any reliable way. Christians will scream that he does but then fail horribly to demonstrate any good evidence for that claim. The kind of evidence asserted by Christians for their god’s personal engagement is also claimed by believers in other world religions. There is nothing special about what Christians are feeling. It’s all placebo.

 

Fail! When it comes to health and wealth, Christians don't really believe what the bible bible says.

Jas 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.

Jas 5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. 

Mk 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

Mat 19:23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven."

Mat 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Mat 19:21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The book of James reveals the failure of the holy spirit to convict Christians of god's alleged truth in matters of health. Most Christians run to the doctor when they are seriously ill or need surgery. From a secular point of view, this makes good sense. The problem for Christians is that the bible says this is not what they should be doing. In the book of James, Christians are instructed to go to the church elders and their prayer WILL make the sick person well. People who trust the bible here often end up dead. The bible never says to seek a doctor or that medicine is a gift from god. By the way, a study conducted by The Templeton Foundation (a Christian organization) showed prayer has no meaningful effect on people in medical crisis. 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-mar-31-sci-prayer31-story.html

Wealth is another part of the bible where the holy spirit consistently fails to demonstrate power. Jesus is clear that a rich Christian is not a follower of his. Multitudes of rich pastors, apologists and believers are all evidence that no god is at work in this faith. Nope. No evidence of real life-changing power here.