Tag: New Testament
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How Did “Do Unto Others” Become “Do What We Say”?
Ya know the game “telephone”? A person whispers something into the next person’s ear — who then whispers what they heard into the next person’s ear and so on until we get to the last person. Usually, the original message gets wildly corrupted into total gibberish which makes everyone laugh when they hear it —…
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Here’s The Problem With Letting Religious People Run Things, Part One
An important moment in every kid’s life — an essential moment, really, that will dictate the course of the rest of their life — is the instant they realize that adults (pretty much all of them) are completely full of shit. And adults ARE full of shit. Adults want kids to believe they know everything…
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This Atheist Has No Quarrel With Jesus; It’s Christians I Have Issues With…
Growing up Jewish in a mostly Christian world (here in America, back in the 60’s) was like living inside a giant non-sequitur. Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust (I was born in 1959, 14 years after the camps were liberated) added extra non-sequitur-iness. My tribe was hated to the point of genocide by…
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American Christianity Has Turned Itself Into A Death Cult That Would Have Horrified Jesus
Though I am a hard core (I’d even say devout) atheist, I consider myself a “fan of Jesus”. I don’t know for certain if Jesus actually existed (at present, no one can prove that he did, but, I suspect someone vaguely like him did exist — heavy emphasis on the word “vaguely”) but even a…
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Show Me A Person Who Claims To “Speak For God” & I’ll Show You A Person Who Thinks They ARE “God”
This really should be a no-brainer. Ask ten theists what “God” is & you will get ten distinctly different answers. Ask 10 ardent theists — evangelicals, say — what “God” is and, if you listen really closely, what you’ll get is a person describing themselves. The absolutes and the moral imperatives heavy with the weight…
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The More A Person Loves Their Church, The Less Spiritual They Seem To Be
I bet that lights a few fires. First, let’s define “church”. We can’t define it the way Jesus would have defined it because Jesus never imagined “churches”. He was born, lived and died a Jew. He knew from temples. And — if you recall — Jesus preached AGAINST the temple and the temple authorities. They…
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The Most Frustrating Thing About Anti-Semitism Is What It’s Based On: NOTHING
I’ve said here before that I grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust — in a Jewish suburb of Baltimore just 20 years after the camps were liberated. Many survivors lived in my community. I can tell you from experience — it’s damned hard for a little kid to wrap his young mind around…
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The Bible Is What Happens When Books Meant To Answer “One” Question Are Used To Answer Another…
I’ve always said Hebrew School made me the atheist I am today. That’s not entirely true. I have been an atheist since inception. Hebrew School simply closed the deal. But I don’t regret any of my religious education (which lasted from age 6 to 14). I genuinely learned a lot from it. In particular, I…
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Here’s What Happens When We “Pull Back The Lens” — And We NEED To Pull It Back NOW…
Lack of perspective kills. A swimmer who sees only the immediate water around them – lovely and turquoise – but not the school of hungry sharks circling that lovely bit of turquoise? That swimmer is chum. Religionistas will insist that their deity wants them to live according to the rules set down by ignorant (by…
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People Who Believe In Magic Can Never Be Trusted — Because They Believe In Magic
You’re lying on a gurney, about to be wheeled into emergency surgery. The surgeon appears — big smile on his face — just before they put you under. “Nothing to worry about,” he says (a little too loudly), “You’re gonna be fine — I just know it! I prayed as hard as I could and…