Monday, 11 June 2012

What exactly is orthodox Christianity


Faith is believing something that you know isn’t true. –Mark Twain

What exactly is orthodox Christianity, in simple words?

It is a religion that requires you to believe that a person named Jesus, who was his own father, died for your sins; sins which you acquired because a wicked serpent convinced your ancestors to steal a magical fruit from a magical tree. To gain salvation, you must tell Jesus telepathically that since he loves you, you love him back, and that you will no longer sin. Then, accept that he died for your sins. After that, you must overdress every Sunday morning and spend the whole day apologizing for being born as a human. Else, you’ll burn in hell for eternity.

Yeah, I know the above description wouldn’t make any sense to a human being who has a sense of logic. Sadly, there is nothing in orthodox Christianity that can be explained logically. And when I say “nothing”, I mean- NOTHING. Because “logic” is something orthodox Christians don’t have. Anyway, let us “try” to look at some things in Christianity from a logical point of view.

(Note that unlike my other articles, here I am using the word- Yahweh. I feel that a God, who demands the death of innocent creatures, who commands people to kill those who don’t worship him, approves rape and so on, doesn’t deserve the name.)

Number 1- Noah’s ark

According to the Bible, Noah was the only person who was good and righteous among the people of his time. So, Yahweh decided to kill all other people and protect only Noah. So, he decided to send a big flood that would drown the whole earth killing EVERYONE. Is it believable that all other people including their children were so evil that they all deserved death? I don’t think so. But, anyway, since the “holy” Bible says so, we will buy it just for now.

Now, a question comes here. If Yahweh was all powerful, why on earth didn’t he just send some wild animals like he did later in “Kings”? Why not just send a thunderstorm that would strike all other people except Noah? Why not just make them sick? If he is really “all powerful”, he could also kill them using heart attacks. So, why cause so much unnecessary commotion by creating a flood? It is also hard to understand why Yahweh decided to kill the innocent animals along with the supposed sinful humans.

Anyway, let’s leave those questions because we know they can’t be answered. So, Yahweh made Noah create a boat and take a pair of every animal and bird with him. Is that believable? Let’s see… Noah lived in Israel, and to get the polar bears, he had to travel all the way to the North Pole on foot. How much time would that take? More than one year. But, Genesis 7: 4 says that Yahweh gave him only seven days. So, how on earth did he bring the polar bears from the North Pole, penguins from the South Pole, and camels from the desert and so on in such a short time? Well, Yahweh does work in “mysterious” ways, so maybe he did some kind of miracle to teleport them, isn’t that right? Okay, then, we will buy this excuse too, for now.

So, the boat had to be large enough to carry all the millions of species of animals that this world has. So, how was it built in such a short time? It would also take Noah a lot of time to collect food for all the animals. Plus, where would he keep them? Logical or illogical, there is simply NO explanation for these questions. Plus, this incident took place thousands of years ago. So, from where on earth did Noah buy a refrigerating system to keep the polar bears and penguins alive?
So, it explains that this story is just another nonsense fairytale. A fairytale that even adults believe.

Number 2- Hell and heaven

A story also goes that the righteous will go to heaven while the sinners will go to hell. They say that Yahweh rules over the whole universe except hell. So, hell is the only place over which Yahweh does not rule. Because the devil rules over it.

Let us suppose that hell exists. So, suppose you lied, you cheated, you committed unlawful sexual acts, you committed murder and so on, and in the end, you had to go to hell. According to orthodox Christians, now you will be punished. By the devil, that is. Again, let’s not forget that you were a liar, a cheater, an adulterer and a murderer. In other words, you were evil. And so is the devil! So, why on earth would the devil punish you? Hell, you are one of his buddies!

If one uses plain old logic, this theory about heaven and hell doesn’t make any sense either.

Number 3- Laughable stories that make no sense

Some stories of the Bible are so horrible and disgusting that it can only leave the reader wondering what its purpose is. Let’s look at the story in Judges 19: 16- 29. A man and his concubine take shelter for the night in an old man’s place. That night, a group of wild men appear at the door and asks the old man for his guest because they wanted to rape him. Surprisingly, the old man values a stranger whom he just met more than his young virgin daughter. He offers his daughter instead. The wild men are still not satisfied, so the old man decides to send his guest’s concubine out. The wild men were given permission to do whatever they wanted with her. The men brutally rape her all night and at last, the poor woman dies on the doorstep of the house where her husband was staying. The Bible does not mention her husband crying or feeling any pity over her death. Instead he cuts her corpse into twelve pieces and sends them to different tribes of Israel.

Moral of this story? I would hope none.

Seriously, only those orthodox Christians can find logic and justice in such disgusting stories. It also leaves me wondering why Yahweh didn’t do anything to save the poor woman. Maybe it’s because he works in “mysterious” ways. So “mysterious” that he couldn’t come to save the poor woman.

Number 4- Numerous contradictions in the first chapters of Genesis

From a scientific point of view, everything in all the chapters of Genesis is plain garbage. But, even if they were taken to be true for now, we would still find contradictions.

Genesis 1: 4 describes Yahweh creating light. But he created the sun much later, in Genesis 1: 16. So, how can there be light without the Sun?

Genesis also describes Yahweh creating the plants before he created the Sun. So, how in the world can the plants survive, much less, grow without a sun?

The Bible is full of such nonsense and garbage that contradicts science. So many people were fooled by the Bible, and so many still are. Abraham Lincoln said- You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

It’s so pathetic that orthodox Christians believe that human-sacrificing and animal-sacrificing primitives living around three thousand years ago knew more about biology and the universe than modern-day scientists.

Orthodox Christians have a tendency to dislike scientists because they showed the real truth to the world. But, still they use computers and other technologies to spread their madness and false propaganda, while forgetting that those very technologies they use were invented by the very scientists they hate.

I am also sure that it isn’t very hard to find an orthodox Christian today who will say that people who don’t believe in their religion should be stoned to death. All I can say is that this is a wrong attitude towards life and religion.

Blessed are the merciful.

Madness and Hypocrisy


If Christ were here now, there is one thing he would not be- a Christian. –Mark Twain

Orthodox Christianity is full of hypocrisy, self-contradictions and false propaganda. Matthew 7: 1 says, “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you.” Yet it is very hard to find a Christian who will not pass judgment on an atheist. Many orthodox Christians scrutinize and persistently criticize atheists, Muslims and Hindus saying that they would go to hell and so on. Matthew 23: 9 says, “You must not call anyone here on earth `Father’ because you have the only one Father in heaven.” Yet, `Father’ has become an official title in the Roman Catholic Church. And, then, most orthodox Christians instead of serving the poor and protecting the innocent criticize people of other religions saying that they would go to hell for not believing in Jesus Christ.

There are some serious errors with orthodox Christianity. Most of them are too embarrassing.

Question 1: Why is the Bible not a word of God?

Pope John Paul II has said that any interpretation of the Bible that contradicts a rational understanding of God's goodness and mercy is incorrect. So, why does the Old Testament demand death for minor sins? The answer is that the ancient Hebrews lived in a very barbaric community. Most of the people were cruel and uncultured. So, they made the laws according to how they needed it. We all know that God is merciful and compassionate. So, would such a God really make such horrible laws? Let’s take a look at some of them.

Exodus 21: 24 says, “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

But is that what Jesus taught us? What did Jesus say?

Matthew 5: 39 says, “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too.”

So, as we can see that the laws of the Old Testament were flawed. Would a merciful and compassionate God really teach us to take an eye for an eye? Even though orthodox Christians claim otherwise, those laws were made by the ancient Hebrews. Those weren’t from God. That’s why Jesus rejected those laws, and taught people to be humble and merciful.

But, orthodox Christians, instead of following the words of Jesus, defend the laws of the Old Testament. How many Christians would offer the left cheek when slapped on the right one? In my opinion- None. Instead, they would slap back and use Exodus 21: 24 in order to justify their action.

Let’s take a look at some laws of the Old Testament; laws that can prove that it can never be a word of God.

Exodus 21: 14: Whoever works on the Sabbath is to be put to death.

Funny thing is that even Christians who defend the Old Testament find themselves doing work on Sundays. So, who is going to put those Christians to death?

Leviticus 20: 15: If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he and the animal shall be put to death.

It’s true that the man has done a disgusting thing but that does not mean that he deserves death. Plus, even if his death is justified, it is completely illogical to kill the animal because it is not responsible for the act. Anyone capable of logical reasoning would find this law to be loathsome. But, orthodox Christians defend these cruel laws and claim that they came from God. By doing so, they not only contradict love and compassion but also contradict Jesus, whom they claim to follow.

Jesus himself taught us that the laws mentioned in the Old Testament are not laws of God, but of human beings. Those laws were flawed and imperfect, that is why Jesus replaced them with his own ones. But, sadly, closed-minded orthodox Christians refuse to understand this. Even though Jesus himself rejected those laws, they claim those laws to come from God. By doing so, they are actually mocking God and making a monster out of Him.

Question  2: Do Non-Christians go to hell?

The worst thing about orthodox Christianity is that they claim that people of other religions would go to hell. People like Dave believe that anyone who does not believe in Jesus would burn in hell FOR ETERNITY! People like me, who are capable of logical reasoning, can never find any logic or justice in that nonsense statement.

They claim that no matter how righteous you are, you have to believe in Jesus, or else you’re going to hell. People who use this statement are making a mockery of God’s sense of justice. If this statement were to be true, then, children who were born in places where Christianity never got preached would go to hell. It would mean that every rabbi, every holy man of the Jewish faith is destined to go to hell. It would mean that even the Buddhist monks who spend their lives serving the poor would go to hell because they didn’t believe in Jesus. Seriously, there is neither any logic nor any justice in this statement. This statement is used in order to gain mass converts.

John 14: 6 says, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.”

This statement is perfectly true if taken symbolically. But, orthodox Christians, as we all know, are blind to their faith. So, they take this passage to be literally true. Plus, this passage does not say that anyone who does not believe in Jesus are going to hell. Orthodox Christians say that in order to gain mass converts, but this statement does not work nowadays. They talk about love and compassion, but there is nothing loving and compassionate about letting someone burn in hell for eternity, just because he did not hear about Jesus, or could not accept the Christian dogma.

What does the passage John 14: 6 actually mean? Jesus usually spoke in metaphors, as we all know from Matthew 5: 29. No Christian takes Matthew 5: 29 literally, because they know it is a metaphor.

Jesus was talking about the words He spoke. He meant that His teachings were the only way to reach God. We can confirm this in John 6: 63.

So, next time, any Christian tells you that you are going to hell because you are not a Christian, ask them to point out where exactly in the Bible Jesus said so.

A loving, kind and compassionate God would judge his people only by their righteousness and good works. He would never judge them by their skin color, their face or their religion. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7: 21 that only those who do the will of the Lord will be going to heaven. But, sadly, orthodox Christians say something else. They say that you need to believe in Jesus or else you will be burning in hell. It is obvious that they fabricated this statement, because nowhere in the Bible, Jesus said anything about people burning in hell for not believing in Him. So, always remember that anyone who uses this statement is either trying to fool you or is a fool himself.

The most disgusting thing about orthodox Christianity is intolerance for other religions, even though it claims to be the most merciful and compassionate religion. Because of this narrow-minded attitude, many people are leaving Christianity nowadays, especially in Europe.

Let us look at some more self-contradictions in the Bible.

Number 1- Did God love everyone?

Jeremiah 31: 3: People of Israel, I have always loved you…

Deuteronomy 23: 18: The Lord hates temple prostitutes.

Number 2- Can man be righteous?

Romans 3: 10: There is no one who is righteous.

Genesis 7: 1: I have found that you are the only one in the world who does what is right.

Number 3- What did Jesus teach about the way of the sword?

Matthew 26: 52: All those who take the sword will die by the sword.

Matthew 10: 24: No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Number 4- What should we do with our riches?

Luke 12: 33: Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor.

Proverbs 13: 22: A good man will have wealth to leave to his grandchildren.

Number 5- Are we judged by faith alone or are good actions necessary?

Ephesians 2: 8- 9: For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it.

James 2: 24: You see, then, that it is by his actions that a person is put right with God, and not by his faith alone.

So, as we can see, Dave’s so-called “holy” Bible is full of such self-contradictions. So, in my opinion, instead of being so obsessed with the Bible and trying to gain more converts, Christians should instead work for the poor and try to make this world a better place. That’s the way to serve God.

Blessed are the merciful.