Dear Readers,
Today, I was thinking. So many Christians, usually fundamentalists subject the "morality" of the Bible to another standard than that of modern morality. Yahweh engages in many behaviors today that we would deem immoral. I am a secular Jew by choice and I love being a part of the Jewish community. The Jewish community does have it's negative side like any other community of course. In the Torah, the authors clearly demonize the Canaanites and other pagan cultures and accuse them engaging in all sorts of behaviors, some of which I think are immoral and some that aren't. I don't think worshipping other gods than Yahweh is evil, there is just no proof for the existence of these deities which includes Yahweh. I don't think that homosexuality is wrong. Witchcraft isn't real to me. The pagans are accused of sacrificing their children to the god known as Moloch and yet Yahweh sacrifices his son Jesus to take on the flaws of the world. Since becoming an atheist, I think the whole idea of Jesus sacrificing his life for the mistakes that other people make his immoral. I firmly believe that people need to accept personal responsibility for their own behavior and no one else.
I think the whole idea of Jesus being offered as a sacrifice for the "sins" of humanity is wrong and cannot ever be justifiable. No one should have to take responsibility for the flaws of another person. The historical Jesus to me was a Essene zealot with very apocalyptic and anti-sexual attitudes who was merely wrong about his ideas. Even if he were still alive, I'd merely tell him " Hey, I disagree with you and I think your wrong, but I certainly wouldn't kill you over a disagreement". Jesus, the historical Jesus was executed for merely having a different religious opinion. You can disagree all you want but that doesn't give you the right to kill people over disagreements, you know what I mean? In the Torah, the 613 laws were only for the Hebrew people. Yahweh never tells the Jews that they couldn't kill the pagans. The commandment of not murdering others, only applied to the Jews. It meant that Jews could not kill their fellow Hebrews. Slavery is quite permissible although Jewish slaves are treated more decently than their pagan peers were. Apostle Paul is supposed to have told Christians to not associate with pagans because what do the followers of Yahweh and Jesus have in common with Baal. That sounds quite bigoted to me. No one wonder so many Christians kicked Paul out of their communities, the dude was crazy. Paul is a very unlikeable figure. Funny, that he seems to deviate from much of Judaism. Early Christianity really wasn't all that different from 1st century C.E. Judaism except for the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah.
Yahweh flooding the world because he feels regret at creating the human species and causing fire to rain down on the cities of Sodom , Gomorrah and the plains is cruel. What about Ham being cursed along with his descendants for merely seeing his drunken father naked? Ham didn't seem like that bad of a guy. What about this antagonistic relationship between Yahweh and Satan. How can Yahweh hate Satan? Is Satan not one of Yahweh's creations? It seems to me that the Torah's view of Satan is radically different from the way he is portrayed in the Christian Bible. The Torah seems to portray Satan as an avenging angel working on behalf of Yahweh. Most religious Jews don't seem to focus on Satan nor do they believe in the concept of "original sin", a concept that Muslims also reject. I know very little about Islam or the Quran. I know there are passages in the Quran the call for the annihilation of Muslim apostates, the execution of sexually-active same-sex couples and total submission to Allah/Yahweh. What I know about Islam, I can say I have not been impressed, but am not all surprised. Yes, I know that not all Muslims are extremist or fundamentalist. I know there are probably some positive passages in the Quran just like in other religious texts, but I am quite certain that most passages in the Quran are pretty negative. Mohammed was a warlord and a pedophile at best. Pedophilia is not something that I will ever agree with. I don't think child marriages should ever be acceptable. Starting war over religious reasons are not acceptable. I do agree with Muslims, even as atheist, that the belief in "original sin" and in Jesus being sacrificed for the "sins" of the world are abhorrent, that much we actually can agree on. However, I reject the concept of "sin" entirely. We are not perfect, that is true. We have flaws and mistakes, but that is just how we are. I know that the Quran has a different perspective on many Biblical stories. Jesus breaths life into a clay bird at the request of Allah/Yahweh as an infant, if I am correct. That isn't in the four Gospels. That is from the Quran.
I really think it is important to have to a critical study of the Quran like the Torah, the Christian Bible and other religious texts. Granted, I know that the Quran is written in such a style that the text has to be taken literally. The Arabic language has countless mentions of Allah and references to Islam. The religion of Islam and the Arabic language are nearly inseparable. I wonder how many Arabic atheists who are ex-Muslims find it hard to speak Arabic due to the language's religious references? I know very little about the Quran and Islamic history, so understand, I cannot speak as an authority, but whatever I do learn, I view the Quran and Muslim history in a critical light as I believe in questioning everything. I cannot help but laugh when Christians call Allah a "false god". Hello, Yahweh and Allah are the same deity. Muslims just have some different views of Yahweh and famed Biblical stories and characters like Moses, Ishmael and Jesus. Those burning in Hell when they cry out for water shall have, boiling water poured down their throats. How nice of Allah to allow that.
Most religions call for the execution of ex-members and persons who belong to other religions. Why is it that it's always Christians, Muslims and sometimes Jews doing this? You never hear of Wiccans, Buddhists, Unitarian-Universalists ( some of whom are Christians), liberal Quakers ( some of the liberal Quakers are Christians), or Laveyan Satanists do that stuff. Why? Because most of them feel that such behavior is immoral and they pretty much condemn the execution of former members as harmful. Most Jews don't do that either, though some will and do. Atheists largely don't do that, except for people like Joseph Stalin, but atheism is not a religion. Mormonism has a doctrine on Blood Atonement that calls for the murder of people in who engage in "offenses" against the Holy Spirit like non-marital sex and other such things, some Fundamentalist Mormons engage in the call to murder as promoted by the doctrine on Blood Atonement, most Orthodox Mormons don't know about it. Unfortunately, the LDS Church ( Orthodox Mormonism) is dishonest about so much of it's history.
Lying for the Lord is pretty common. Hmmm? I thought that swearing falsely in Yahweh's name was breaking a commandment? Milk before meat, is an excuse that Orthodox Mormons use on potential converts when discussing controversial aspects of Mormonism. I had a mostly positive experience with the LDS Church, however that doesn't excuse any of the Church's harmful behaviors. Jehovah's Witnesses are pretty much the same way because in their eyes some people aren't deserving to know "the truth". Shunning apostates is required, too bad they can't kill them like they could in the good old days, eh? So are the JW's saying that they wish they could kill ex-JW's? I thought killing people was wrong or "sinful", if any of them think that killing ex-members are okay and there are some that do, they should seek professional help. The same goes for Seventh-day Adventists.
I may have disagreements with JW's, Orthodox Mormons, SDA's, Christian Scientists, Nazarenes, evangelicals and Pentecostals but does that mean that I would go out and kill them, imprison them or harass them? No. I would never do that. I can express disagreement without acting like a maniac. Many religions have a severe persecution complex. Now the JW's and Mormons have faced some pretty harsh instances of actual persecution throughout history and I can sympathize with them over that, despite my disagreement with their denominational beliefs and practices. JW's practically view anyone who criticizes their beliefs and practices or refuses to convert to the Organization/denomination as a form of "persecution". That's a form of paranoia. I make criticize aspects of the JW's, but I'm not going to go out and persecute them. Don't forget, I was raised as a JW. I wouldn't do that. Most ex-JW's, including myself would never slam the door in their faces as much as we may want to sometimes. Why? Because we know what it is like to get a door slammed in your face when talking to people about your religion. I may disagree with the JW's, I'm very polite with them when they come to my door. I tell them that I am a former member and have no interest in rejoining the Organization. Their pretty polite about it , they thank me for my time and continue on to the next house. The same goes for LDS Church missionaries. I was an LDS Church member once, I was never a missionary but I wouldn't slam the door in their face.
I read a story somewhere of atheists who went door-to-door to see what the experience was like, they said that an angry JW man threw a Bible at them, they just happened to be doing it at an apartment complex where most of the people were JW's. A JW throwing a Bible at an atheist? Seems kind of hypocritical to me. I remember when on field service with my mom and some of her friends when I was still involved with JW's, a Muslim family tried to preach to us about Islam and they didn't throw a Quran at us. It was actually kind of a touching experience. I'd never see anyone proselytize to any Jehovah's Witness before. It showed me that these Muslims are just as serious about their religion as the JW's are over their particular Christian denomination. Anyways, where is the compassion in religion? It seems that we see very little of it. If religious people practiced compassion more, we probably wouldn't have to deal with Jihadists and "holy" wars. What do you think?
Sincerely.
B.W.
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