Friendly Atheist

» Conflicting Bible teaching of the week: « the BEattitude

Did Jesus keep secrets, give special treatment to some and intentionally confuse others so they wouldn’t be forgiven?

Yes.

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Matthew 13:10-11

He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
” ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’“
Mark 4:11, Luke 8:10

He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Mark 4:34

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.
Luke 9:20-21, Mark 8:29-30

Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
Matthew 16:20

No.

“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.
John 18:20

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.“ Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:25-26

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.
Acts 10:34

God does not show favoritism.
Romans 2:11

November 04, 2009, 2:24am Comments

» Debunking Christianity: The Bizzaro Beliefs of Christianity

This Godhead is also conceived of as a timeless being who was somehow able to create the first moment of time. How a timeless being could actually do this is extremely problematic. For if his decision to create a first moment of time is an eternal one, then there could be no temporal gap between his decision to create the first moment of time and the actual creation of the first moment of time. If there was no temporal gap between God’s eternal decision to create a first moment of time and the creation of that first moment, then his decision to create would alone be sufficient for a first moment of time to be created. God could not eternally decide to create at any future point since there is no future point for him to create since he’s a timeless being. Hence, either the universe is eternal or God never decided to create in the first place.

From here it only gets worse…..

November 03, 2009, 8:24pm Comments

» Scientology: The truth rundown | Tampabay.com St. Petersburg Times

High-ranking defectors provide an unprecedented inside look at the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige.

By the St. Petersburg Times.

November 03, 2009, 1:29pm Comments

mikesova:

azspot:

Best Christian T-Shirt Like, Ever?

Then what do you need “god’s word” for? If all is based on ones filters and culture, then why stick with all that superstition?

Reblogged from Free Thinker, Liberal, Hippie..yeah, I'm all that..

November 03, 2009, 7:28am Comments

» A Better Place

In my youth I was a child of God. I marveled at his splendor. He was bigger than I could even imagine; unfathomable and untameable. But I enjoyed him most when I could catch just a glimpse of how he ticked. All I wanted was to understand God and live in him fully to help make the world a better place.

Yup, I was a born-again, body-baptized, Bible-believin’, Spirit-filled, heaven-bound son of preacher man! I went on missions trips to China and England and Indonesia and the faraway land of Canada. I attended Christian youth groups, led Bible studies, prayed daily, and worshiped earnestly.

In fact, I was such a good, genuine Christian that I started to worry about the sin of pride.

In a worship service one day I felt God nudging me to humble myself. I knew I had to put my body into a position of humility before God, because that would help get my mind in the right place, too. But I was pretty shy at the time, so I looked at all the people nearby me and asked God, “Now?”

“Yes,” he answered.

But I was frozen. I kept hoping the worship band would play their last song, for then I would have missed my opportunity and I would have had to humble myself some other day.

Finally, I asked God for peace, and he gave it to me. My whole body relaxed. I focused on how much I loved God rather than my pounding heart and sweating hands.

I made my way out of the aisle and walked to the front of my church, where there was a large cross on the wall, and I bowed down before it.

About 10 minutes later, I looked up and saw that half the worship band had stopped playing their instruments and were kneeling before the cross. I looked behind me and saw that the whole aisle was filled with people bowing before the cross. The Spirit of God had overwhelmed us.

The question of my life was WWJD: What Would Jesus Do? The problem was, different people had different ideas about who Jesus was and what he would do. So I decided to become an expert on Jesus. I studied what scholars had to say about the real Jesus who ministered to humanity 2,000 years ago.

And what I learned… shocked me. The gospels are riddled with contradictions, myths, and known lies. Jesus and Paul disagreed on many central issues, and Christian theology had actually sided with Paul, against Jesus! I also started to wonder how I could accept the miracle claims about Jesus but reject the miracle claims of other religions as superstitious nonsense.

I started to panic. I felt like my best friend in the whole world was dying. And worse, I was killing him.

But I had to know the truth. So I studied and studied and studied. And eventually I had to admit I didn’t have any reasons to think Christianity was true. In fact, I didn’t have any good reasons to think God even existed.

I was lost and miserable. As an atheist, I could have no meaning or purpose or morality.

At least, that’s what I’d been told. Later, I learned what hundreds of millions of atheists have known for centuries: there is plenty of purpose and morality without a Supreme Magical Dictator.

There’s art and music and poetry and literature and film. There’s love and heartache and ecstasy and laughter and peace. There’s a world of confusion, and we know how to bring clarity! There’s a world of suffering, and we know how to bring joy. There’s a world of bondage, and we know how to bring freedom!

In my twenties I realized I was a child of this natural world. I marvel at her splendor. She is bigger than I can even imagine: unfathomable and untameable. But I enjoy her most when I can catch just a glimpse of how she ticks. All I want is to understand this natural world and live in her fully to help make the world a better place.

November 03, 2009, 1:28am Comments

» Evangelical march in Brazil draws 1.5 million - World Faith- msnbc.com

SAO PAULO - More than 1.5 million evangelical Christians joined Brazil’s annual “March for Jesus” on Monday, an event sponsored by a church whose leaders recently returned after being imprisoned in the U.S. for money smuggling.

-Religion = mass stupidity

November 02, 2009, 7:27pm Comments

navigolucky:

apsies:

bringmethathorizon:think4yourself: savingpaper:

A pastor writes to Andrew Sullivan:

Too bad the guy with the [anti-gay] passage from Leviticus tattooed on his arm didn’t read the next chapter:

“You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you; I am the LORD”

Of course since when is the Bible applied to oneself? It is apparently only to be applied to others, as an excuse for abuse.