Your'e a Twat

Proof #1 – Try praying

How might we prove that God is imaginary? One way would be to find a contradiction between the definition of God and the God we experience in the real world.

What would happen if we get down on our knees and pray to God in this way:

Dear God, almighty, all-powerful, all-loving creator of the universe, we pray to you to cure every case of cancer on this planet tonight. We pray in faith, knowing you will bless us as you describe in Matthew 7:7, Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, Mark 11:24, John 14:12-14, Matthew 18:19 and James 5:15-16. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

We pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this completely heartfelt, unselfish, non-materialistic prayer, it will glorify God and help millions of people in remarkable ways.

Will anything happen? No. Of course not.

This is very odd. Jesus makes specific promises in the Bible about how prayer is supposed to work. Jesus says in many different places that he and God will answer your prayers. And Christians believe Jesus — according to this recent article, “54% of American adults believe the Bible is literally true.” In some areas of the country the number goes as high as 75%.

If the Bible is literally true, then something is seriously amiss. Simply look at the facts. In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says:

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

If “every one who asks receives“, then if we ask for cancer to be cured, it should be cured. Right? If “our Father who is in heaven gives good things to those who ask him“, then if we ask him to cure cancer, he should cure it. Right? And yet nothing happens.

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says:

For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

If “nothing will be impossible to you“, then if we ask to cure cancer tonight, cancer should disappear. Right? Yet nothing happens. Note that if we take the Bible less-than-literally here, the statement “nothing will be impossible to you” becomes “lots of things will be impossible to you,” and that would mean that Jesus is lying.

In Matthew 21:21:

I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

If “you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer“, then if we ask to cure cancer tonight, cancer should dissappear. Right? Yet nothing happens. Note again that there is not a non-literal way to interpret “you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer“, unless you replace “whatever” with “nothing” or “little.”

The message is reiterated Mark 11:24:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

If God says, “believe that you have received it, and it will be yours,” and if we believe in God and his power, then what should happen if we pray to cure cancer tonight? It should be cured. Either that, or God is lying.

In John chapter 14, verses 12 through 14, Jesus tells all of us just how easy prayer can be:

“I tell you the truth,

anyone

who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and i will do it.

Look at how direct this statement is: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” This is the “Son of God” speaking. Have we taken him “too literally?” No. This is a simple, unambiguous statement. Have we taken his statement “out of context?” No – Jesus uses the word anyone. Yet Jesus’ statement is obviously false. Because when we ask God to cure cancer tonight, nothing happens.

We see the same thing over and over again…

In Matthew 18:19 Jesus says:

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

In James 5:15-16 the Bible says:

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

In Mark 9:23:

All things are possible to him who believes.

In Luke 1:37:

For with God nothing will be impossible.

Nothing could be simpler or clearer than Jesus’ promises about prayer in the Bible. Yet, when we pray to eliminate cancer, nothing happens.

And keep in mind that this is Jesus talking here. These are not the words of human beings. These are not the words of “inspired” human beings. These are supposedly the words of God himself, incarnated in a human body. Jesus is supposed to be a perfect, sinlessbeing. And yet, it is obvious that Jesus is lying. What Jesus says is clearly incorrect.

 

Jesus is supposed to be God. God is supposed to be perfect.
When Jesus speaks, he should speak the truth.
Yet when we look at what Jesus says about prayer,
he is clearly lying.If you would like additional proof, gather a million faithful believers together into a giant prayer circle. Have them all pray together in Jesus’ name that God cures every case of cancer on the planet tomorrow. Pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this completely heartfelt, unselfish, non-materialistic prayer, it will glorify God and help millions of people in remarkable ways. Now, we certainly have two or more people gathered together, and they have asked in Jesus’ name, and we have not one but a million faithful believers who, by definition, have faith and believe. We have fulfilled every one of Jesus’ requirements.

Will Jesus answer the prayer now? Of course not. Your prayer will go unanswered, in direct defiance to Jesus’ promises in the Bible. In fact, if you pray for anything that is impossible, your prayer will always go unanswered.

If you are an intelligent, rational human being, all of the examples mentioned above show you that the God of the Bible is imaginary. The Bible clearly promises that God answers prayers. Yet when we pray, nothing happens (for a complete discussion proving that nothing happens. What Jesus says about prayer in the Bible clearly is not true. Therefore, one of two things must be happening:

• God is imaginary.
• God does exist, but he never answers prayers. Unfortunately, God is defined by the Bible to be a prayer-answering being. The contradiction between the reality of God and the definition of God proves that God is imaginary.

In fact, we have ample scientific evidence to demonstrate that the belief in prayer is nothing but pure superstition, as shown in the next proof coming soon…….

What has God ever done for me?  I’ve never killed anyone.  I’ve never raped anyone.  I’ve never robbed a bank or stolen a car.  Yeah – I’ve hurt a few people, but they hurt me first!  They deserve what they got! 

 

You’ve hurt me, God, from the day I was born.  I had no father or mother to raise me.  I went from foster home to foster home as though I was just a cheap piece of rubbish.  No one ever really loved me.  Sandy was the only one who ever really loved me, and you let her get cancer and die on me.  God, I hate you so much.

 

You even let Molly get ran over by a car.  Remember that, God?  Molly was my friend’s pet dog, and Molly loved me more than she loved Sam, her owner.  Molly would come over and beg me to pet her and play with her.  She was the only one I could really talk to.  She was the only one I could really trust.  She never turned her back on me like everyone else has.  And you let her get run over God.  You took my only true friend, and I hate you for that too!

 

Remember that time my mom called me and asked if I would meet her at that restaurant?  She wanted to see what I looked like all grown up.  I waited there at that restaurant, God, but mom never showed up.  She never ever even called back to tell me what happened.  I prayed and asked you to have her call me and tell me why she never showed up, but you wouldn’t even have her do that!

 

Sandy and me were good together, God.  She had been hurt her whole life just like me.  She understood me, and I understood her.  We had plans to marry as soon as we could get some money together.  When I held her in my arms, I felt like nothing else in the world mattered.  My hurt would go away and her’s would go away too.  You took that away from me God, and I’ll hate you forever for taking her away from me.  Why did you have to let her die?

 

I used to dream that she would come to me at night.  I swear I could hear her in my room sometimes, calling my name, after she died.  I prayed and asked you to let me see her, but you wouldn’t even let me see her, even though I begged you to.  I could feel her there sometimes … I know she was there beside me – but you wouldn’t let me see her.  You are so cruel, God.

 

Look at the mess this world is in?  People killing people over nothing.  People strung out on drugs and killing each other for it.  What kind of God are you to make people do things like this?  Babies starving in other countries and disease is killing people like no tomorrow.  People killing people because of their hatred over religious beliefs and people blowing themselves up thinking that you are going to reward them in heaven for it?  This is crazy, God, and I think you are crazy too.  You’re crazy, God, that’s what you are – mad crazy!

 

And remember that time I went into that church to talk to you?  I really wanted to know if you really are real, or people just believe in you because they need something to believe in.  I gave you a chance to prove to me that you are real, and nothing happened.  I even got down on my knees and asked you to somehow show me you are real, and nothing happened.  Nothing!  I don’t think you are real, even.  If you were, you would answer me right now.  Are you a coward, God, or just think you’re too important to let me know you are real or not? 

 

Yet I want you to be real so you can know how much I hurt.  I want you to hurt just like I hurt.  I want you to hurt worse!  I don’t deserve to hurt this way.  Why did you let me be born in the first place?  Just to hurt like this?  You are so cruel and mean. 

 

Religious nuts say you died on a cross for my sins.  They claim you even rose again and went to heaven after you died.  Well, if that is so, why didn’t you let Sandy come back to life?  Those religious nuts claim you healed people before you died – why didn’t you heal Sandy before she died?  She asked you to heal her, but you didn’t.  I don’t think you healed nobody.  I don’t think you even died.  I don’t think you even existed.  You’re just a fairytale lie some religious nuts have come up with so they can get money out of poor people.  That’s what I think. 

 

So you going to send me to hell for hating you, God?  How can hell be any worse than the hell I’ve lived my whole life?  I don’t want to live anymore, God.  I want to get it all over with because I’m tired of hurting.  I’m tired of the pain.  I want you to hurt like I’m hurting God.  You don’t even care if I hurt, do you God?

 

One of my all-time favorite comedians is George Carlin. He’s one of the few stand-up comedians that could make you both laugh and think at the same time. One of his most famous routines is “Religion is Bullsh*t” where he makes his case for atheism. Here’s how Carlin sums up religion:

“Think about it, religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky…who watches every thing you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten special things that he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever ’til the end of time…but he loves you!”

On one hand, it’s a bit of an exaggeration. But on the other hand, I think Carlin was right on the proverbial money.

I can’t count how many times preachers have described the holy and sovereign God as a dictator sitting in his high chair watching over everything we do, say, and think, ready to get his smite on whenever some one makes the slightest mistake. This is why I cringe whenever God is described as holy and sovereign. It’s not because I don’t believe God isn’t holy or sovereign. I do, very much so. It’s just that often when preachers describe God as holy and sovereign, what they really mean is, “God’s gonna seriously eff you up!”

And that’s why I hate religion.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not an atheist. Neither am I rejecting Jesus or the Bible or the Church. I still follow Christ. I just don’t follow religion anymore. Religion is what happens when people twist the Gospel to make it fit their own agendas.

Religion is motivated by fear.

Faith is motivated by love.

Religion’s main driving force is rules.

Faith’s main driving force is God.

Religion has all the answers wrapped up in neat and tidy boxes.

Faith isn’t afraid to live the questions.

I also hope no one thinks I’m suggesting universalism. Believe me, I’m not a universalist. I believe that on Judgment Day we’ll all stand before God. However, when I read the Bible I can’t help but notice that the Gospel is so much bigger than a Get Out of Hell Free card.

It’s about God restoring the world through Jesus.

It’s about freedom from sin and bondage.

It’s about reconciliation with both God and each other.

And that’s why I can’t embrace Carlin’s atheism: the Gospel is so much bigger than what religion has made it out to be.

 

 

 

 

Madman or Something Worse – Part 1[mirror]

 

 

Madman or Something Worse – Part 2 [Mirror]

THIS IS REALLY WORTH WATCHING…….

Madman or Something Worse is a fascinating documentary for anyone who has an interest in theology and should be made mandatory for anyone calling themselves a Christian. Written by Peter Brietbart, it examines Jesus’ teachings and compares them to today’s moral standards.  In Brietbart’s opinion, “Jesus of Nazareth was an awful moral philosopher. He compares badly to such modern greats such as Mill, Rawls or Ross and also to historical thinkers such as Aristotle, Diogenes or Plato. His moral contributions are not original, and his original contributions are not moral.” If Jesus came along today with the exact same teachings that are written in the Bible, he would be committed to a psychiatric institution and for very good reason. If you find this difficult to believe, then please watch the videos below, it will only take 15 minutes out of your day.

I’m always surprised by the lack of knowledge religious people have about their very own religious texts. The Bible, including the New Testament, is not a book by which people should live their lives, it is one of the most violent and hateful pieces of fiction every written.  Don’t believe me? Then read it from start to finish, the whole thing and tell me at the end that you still think it is a book of love.  If it was written as a work of fiction instead of as a religious text, it would be banned from nearly every library in the Western World.

 

Also, for those of you who don’t think I have the right to criticise religion, you are mistaken.  Something that has that much power over people’s lives should be heavily criticised.  We criticise the governments who make the laws about what we can and can not do in our own countries so why should religion that makes laws about what its followers can and can not do not face the same criticism?

I’m an atheist who fears the consequences of belief in Islam. I don’t love it.

The problem with Islam: A certain percentage of its adherents become fundamentalists and view all of its scriptures as absolute truth and as guidance. Its holy scriptures contain commands like “wage war against the infidel who is near to you” and others requiring believers to punish anyone who is against Islam.

Would Jesus have said anything remotely like that? No way. When Christians go fundamentalist, they read their Bible and see Jesus’ teachings of peace and forgiveness. And Christian terrorism is rare or nonexistent, in spite of millions of Christians being very poor or seemingly disenfranchised in various places.

There has historically been a lot of violence done for the sake of Christianity. But it’s questionable whether this was encouraged by the religion or was a wrongful corruption of early Christians’ intent. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianit… for arguments about this.

Defenders of Islam blame misguided followers for the terrorism. But why are their scriptures written in a dangerous manner that makes Muslims more likely to be wrongly guided into violence? If Islam were a good religion, it would be more capable of handling the faults of its fallible human followers.

Defenders of Islam also like to point to the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, etc as proof that Christianity is just as bad. But what passages in the New Testament directly encouraged those violent events? None that I’m aware of. Would Jesus have approved of the Crusades or Spanish Inquisition? No way. Crusaders and Inquisitors had to ignore the teachings of Jesus to do their deeds.

It’s true that the New Testament also should be more capable of handling the faults of its fallible human followers, and it should have somehow discouraged the Crusades or Spanish Inquisition. But at least it does not actually encourage holy wars explicitly, like Islam seems to.

Islam is dangerous in a way that no other major religion is.

Realistically, not everyone is going to accept Islam by free choice. So Islam requires a tremendous amount of violent holy war to subjugate the billions of people who will not willingly convert.

If I were forced to choose one of those two religions, I would prefer Christianity for sure.

Not a week goes by where I’m not asked by a Christian,“What happened to you to make you hate God so much? Why are you so angry at Christians?” So let me just answer this question once and for all, and the next time anyone asks , I can just forward them to this blog entry.

In order to make it so the mind of a Christian can understand, I will have to explain it in the form of a story. I wish I could explain this in a better way, but because the minds of Christians have been conditioned from birth to understand things that are put in story form, it’s the most efficient way to explain this to you.

So here goes.

Once upon a time, there was a vast country called Americhrist. Now, it just so happened, that every single person in the entire country of Americhrist was mentally retarded. Every single man, woman, and child all completely, mentally retarded.

Welcome to Americhrist

Now, it was not their fault they were mentally retarded. They were just born that way. They couldn’t help it any more than someone who was born left handed could help it. Retardation was just normal.

Then, suddenly, one day in the land of Americhrist, about 15% of all the babies began to be born non-retarded. 15% were born with what you and I would call a “normal” level of intelligence .

Now imagine the 15% of babies who were born non-retarded growing up in a society where 85% of the people are mentally retarded. The non-retarded people, obviously, are smart enough to realize that the other 85% of the people around them are totally mentally retarded.

And, while you’re imagining, imagine what a world which is run by the 85% retards would look like. It would be polluted and violent and have arbitrary laws that are, in a word, retarded. It would be full of grown-ups who believe in fairy tales, and who are willing to kill anyone who disagrees that these fairy tales are true.

Now, imagine that the 15% non-retarded people found a cure for mental retardation. They could finally improve the future of all of humanity greatly by curing the mental retardation of the other 85%.

Only thing is, the 85% retarded people enjoy being retarded. They enjoy it very much. Ignorance is total bliss, and it doesn’t matter that they cage more of their fellow man in prison than any other country on earth; they don’t care that they are involved in wars that kill hundreds of thousands of strangers; and they don’t even care that they are killing their host planet.

Being retarded is really fun and easy. Thinking is hard, and the retarded majority of Americhrist will fight tooth and nail to keep from being cured.

Now, imagine you were in that 15% who were not retarded. Wouldn’t you be angry? Wouldn’t you scream and cuss at the stupid retards?

Wouldn’t you yell,“You fools, can’t you see how primitive you are? Can’t you see how violent and stupid you are? Can’t you see what you are doing to your host planet? What is wrong with you?”

But the retarded people won’t listen. They cannot grasp these concepts. They just want you to shut your stupid mouth so they can keep on playing in their fantasy world.

This is why I’m angry and frustrated. I know it’s not your fault. You can’t help that you are retarded, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating for those of us who are not.

Americhrist is not just a make believe place.