The Ex-Christadelphian

The Resurrection

2012-01-22T13:07:00.000-08:00

It's a possibility that the "resurrection" of Jesus didn't exist until Paul introduced the idea. We know that in the letter to the Galatians that there was "another gospel" and "another Jesus" besides the one Paul was preaching. Paul preached a resurrected Jesus whom he saw in vision - so by deduction, the other Jesus must have been a Jesus who was not resurrected. (Gal. 1 and 2)

In Paul's seven letters, there is no empty tomb and the resurrection is not the same physical body that was buried but a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15). A spiritual body would naturally (supernaturally) be invisible to the human eye. So, the "resurrected" Jesus would be invisible to everyone except the hallucinating believers. I would say that the "empty tomb" story was invented after the first Jewish war by the second generation of Xians searching for his tomb to venerate his bones and were unable to find it.

The Broad and Narrow Way

2012-01-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

Jesus supposedly spoke of a broad path that leads to destruction and a narrow path that leads to life. Just look around you, then, as now, the broad path that most people follow is faith. Jesus tries to make faith sound like the narrow path but it's not - just look around you - at least 75% of Americans are Christians and that's a pretty broad path.

What then, is the narrow path that few people follow? It must be the opposite of faith - which is knowledge. It is demonstratively true that knowledge leads to a better life. Therefore, Jesus has it all backward about the narrow path being the path of faith but has it right about the narrow path being the one to follow.

It is said that faith is "the evidence of things not seen" and that's just what it is - no evidence. And, it's also that broad pathway that most people choose to follow in their lives because of a religious emotional appeal.

There is a choice; either follow the broad path of faith supported by no evidence or the narrow path of knowledge supported by all the evidence.

C'mon folks, it's the 21st century, the age of knowledge. The long ages of darkness and beliefs in demons and gods are over - open some other books besides the bible for a change and give yourself a chance at living your life free of superstition, free of religious dogma, free of religious con men who use you as merchandise. You will be glad you did, because that's using your brain instead of depending on your emotions to tell you what is the right path.

Ex-Christadelphian Christadelphians

2012-01-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

Contributed by John Bedson - January 1, 2012

bedson@pacific.net.au

I frequently receive emails from Christadelphians who berate me for leaving their faith and who encourage me to “return to the fold.” Then they invariably conclude their emails by giving me a list of the Christadelphian teachings that they themselves reject, not realising that they have already become Ex-Christadelphians. Often the teachings that they reject are fundamental doctrines and by rights they should be disfellowshipped. The writers then conclude “Please keep this confidential between us” and often sign off "anonymous" fearful that Christadelphian "Big Brother" might get to know of their heresy.

I conclude that they must be so dissatisfied with their faith that they have been Googling “Ex-Christadelphians” with half a mind to resign from fellowship. They then find this blog, read my articles and write to me in a confused state of mind saying that I have gone too far in rejecting the faith, even though they themselves have rejected parts of the Christadelphian teaching.

They have a “conditioned response” to defend their sect just like humans have a conditioned response to defend their local football team, or the school that their children attend, or the new car that they have just purchased, or the political party that they vote for. But in their hearts they know that something is wrong. That is why they write to me. But I can’t help them. They have to make the decision to leave on their own.

Christadelphianism seems to have evolved into a sort of “take-away” shop in which believers can pick and choose what to believe and what to reject. With many Christadelphians, Christadelphianism is all about “God’s grace” and other nonsense and is indistinguishable from the faith of Evangelical Churches. Only a small number of right-wing, xenophobic, often Australian Christadelphians remain, who actually believe what the founders of the religion taught and what is written in the Statement of Faith.

So what is Christadelphianism these days? I have no idea. I don’t even know what it means to be an “Ex-Christadelphian” anymore because in reality the majority of Christadelphians appear to me to be Ex-Christadelphians. Indeed many of them do not appear to have been Christadelphians in the first place. They were baptised in Christadelphian Churches believing things that were foreign or even abhorrent to the founders of the faith. The religion has become diluted in the quarter of a century since I left, to the point that I find it to be almost unrecognisable to the faith that I mistakenly joined in 1967.

This is one of the main reasons why I rarely write on this blog any more. There is not much left for me to fight against, because Christadelphianism is slowly fading from view like the smiling Cheshire cat in Alice’s Wonderland. The religion is morphing into the background noise of Evangelicalism. My attacks on Christadelphianism are constantly blunted and frustrated by people writing back to me saying “I don’t believe that part of the Christadelphian faith anyway” and “I never read any of the founding works and I disagree with the writings of John Thomas and Robert Roberts” and “My faith is grounded on something else” etc.

I am one of the few people left on the planet with a deep and comprehensive understanding of the original Christadelphian faith. I totally reject that faith, but I do understand it. I taught it for the eighteen years that I was Christadelphian until 1985. I’ve met people like John Carter and Islip Collier. I read “Eureka”, “Christendom Astray”, “Elpis Israel” and many other foundation works when I was eleven years of age. Many modern day Christadelphians will not even recognise those names or the titles of those books which formed the foundation of their sect. But to me, this thing that passes for “Christadelphianism” in the Twenty First Century is not the religion that I left. That is why my articles on this blog are so ineffective. I’m fighting against something that exists largely only in my memory of early Twentieth Century Christadelphianism.

You people who call yourselves Christadelphians mostly don’t believe “The Truth” as it was taught in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. Those people would have refused to fellowship many of you. The rushed Christadelphian baptisms in Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa are a further mockery of what Christadelphianism once stood for. These new converts have no idea what Christadelphianism originally meant.

How can I write on an “Ex-Christadelphian” blog when Christadelphianism itself has mostly become “Ex-Christadelphian?” The common sense of science and the gullibility of Evangelical Christianity have picked apart the Christadelphian faith until nothing of substance remains. It is a “Do it yourself” religion where everyone believes something different and yet everyone is afraid to stand up and say in their ecclesia what they say to me in private – “I don’t believe sections of the faith anyway.”

Thank you everyone for being so honest with me. I will keep your secrets.

The Christadelphian faith is not really evolving into anything. Instead, like water poured into the desert sand, it is evaporating into nothing. Or like water poured into soup, it is losing its flavour and its identity. Increasingly it tastes like all the other Churches. “The Christadelphian” magazine should be renamed “The Ex-Christadelphian” magazine because that is more or less what it has become.

I am NOT obsessed with Christadelphianism. I have not written on this blog for about a year. I feel guilty and stupid that I ever believed that stuff and I feel a responsibility to help Christadelphians to see the error of their ways. An ex-Christadelphian can help much more constructively than an outsider who does not know the faith. But in truth I find Christadelphianism to be boring. It is a silly minor faith and it make me shudder to think that I joined all those years ago. I am deeply embarrassed that it took me so long to wake up to the fact that everything that I believed was absurd and that I wasted the first thirty five years of my life in a cult. It was a complete waste of my time and effort and I say to the Christadelphians reading this that sadly they have also totally wasted the time, money and effort spent in that sect.

Break free and join me in the quest to discover what really is true in this wonderful universe. Take responsibility for your own moral and ethical development and seek to influence others to join this noble quest.

Atheism is a substantially more difficult path to tread than Christadelphianism. The challenge is immense. In a World without God we have to act as a beneficent wise God. In a World without a true Bible we have to be the light of the World bringing goodness, morality and admirable ethical behaviour to a dysfunctional society. Believe me; it is a million times more difficult than being a Christadelphian.

All this we have to do for NO reward in the future. No one thanks you and when you die your atoms return to the dust of the Earth throughout the ages of eternity until the Universe eventually reaches its heat death and time itself stops.

I think that it is a wonderful challenge and I rejoice that I am privileged to be allowed to contribute something useful to this Universe. My reward is now - in the face of the lonely old stroke afflicted gentleman who shared our Christmas lunch, in the happiness of my children, in the comfort that I brought to my dog last night as she trembled at the noise of New Year’s Eve fireworks. In all these things I have my reward and it is more than sufficient to me. It is the most fantastic thing that I could ever experience.

Peter said to Jesus "Behold, we have left everything and followed you; what then will there be for us?" In reply Jesus gave a bullshit promise of reward in the hereafter. And that is what it was; pure scam from a fraudster who could deliver nothing but empty promises and platitudes; a promise to scoundrels who were not willing to do good unless there was a generous payoff. Such mercenary behavior makes us enlightened atheists sick.

The only reward that you Ex-Christadelphian Christadelphians are ever going to get is in the here and now, not in the hereafter. So make the break, get over your xenophobia, roll up your sleeves and do some work making this World a better place. Cease your superstitious belief in Christianity and give of yourselves to others.

You don’t need “faith” to do that. You just do it because you know in your heart that it is the right thing to do. On your deathbed you will not have the comfort of an empty promise of ruling the World in the future. Instead you will have the inestimable comfort of knowing that you did the right thing during your life. You will have given more than you took from the Universe. Like me, you will die content.

That is how Christopher Hitchens recently died. He died in agony with a vicious, incurable cancer and pneumonia gave him the coup de grace. But he died knowing that he had done his best to confront religious superstition. He died knowing that he had sought “the truth, by which man never yet was harmed” and he found some of it. He fought manfully against religious lies and deception and cleared ground for real truth to take root and grow. Compared to such a hero for reason, Christadelphians and indeed all religious people are nothing more than witches and warlocks throwing dead frogs and hemlock into the bubbling brew of their mad eschatology. Christopher Hitchens finally proved to the World that there are “atheists in foxholes.” His death is an example and an inspiration to us all.

So I appeal to all you Ex-Christadelphian Christadelphians who are still cowering in your foxholes treating Christadelphianism like some “pick and mix” faith to bring you false comfort. You have started the process of leaving the religion; do NOT drag your heels on the way out, as I did. I am ashamed that I was such a fool that it took so many years for the scales of gullibility to fall from my eyes and the light of reason to flood my mind. But I finally fought my way out of that damnable cult that is Christadelphianism and reached the safer ground of rational thought and understanding. It has brought me a joy, delight and satisfaction that you will never know unless and until you shake off the chains of that sect and start thinking for yourself.

Good luck to you all, but I know that very few of you will make it to freedom. When the overwhelming majority of Christadelphians reading these words reach their final foxhole of death they will be clinging to their fraudulently written Bibles and mumbling a prayer that no “God” will ever hear. If you are weak minded and naïve then that is the best way for you to go. It may bring you some comfort that the morphine cannot provide.

But I want my Christadelphian friends to know that John Bedson is not going to die sheltering behind a lie generated by the corrupt Victorian physician who founded the Christadelphian sect. I am going to die knowing the awful truth that there is nothing beyond the grave. I am going to die with courage, like Christopher Hitchens, staring the total finality of death full on in the face and like Christopher I will not be afraid. I will die knowing that in my small and faltering way I endeavoured to champion truth, defend virtue, promote ethical behaviour, uphold admirable morality and give something more to humanity and to the Universe than I took from it. In that way I shall triumph over death, even though it will irretrievably take me in its unending grasp and never give me back.

You Christadelphians are not going to triumph over death. You are going to die the death of the duped. You are going to die expecting to be reunited with loved ones and fortunately for you, no one is ever going to wake you and tell you that you were as hopelessly mistaken as all of the other billions of humans who fantasized an afterlife.

Will it matter? Yes it will matter; even though you will lie in your grave unknowing of the consequences of your actions. It will matter because you will leave behind a lifetime of error, mistaken beliefs, falsehood and pure nonsense. You will die having contributed to the stinking mess of religious superstition that future generations of atheists are going to have to clean up when they finally set this World right.

Don’t do it. Get out now, while you still have the time to redeem your error.

Angry Atheists?

2011-11-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

Goodby Facebook!

2011-11-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, I left the cult today.

Some time ago, my account was hacked (or something) and I suddenly had administrative powers. That is to say, I had edit buttons on my friend's walls and profiles. No, I didn't change anyone's birth date or edit their favorite quotes - but, I could have, and that's just wrong. So, I logged out, logged back in, changed my password, logged out, logged back in with new password - problem solved, no big deal. Right? Well, it has to make you wonder how many others had the same thing happen to them and they KEPT their administrative powers...huh?

About a month or so ago, I noticed a discussion in the news feed Ticker that was from a group that I knew was supposed to be a private group. Why is it on my news feed ticker? I wasn't a member of that group - and they thought, I'm sure, that they were having a private discussion. And, I have to admit, it was some interesting stuff that they were talking about there...only it's supposed to be private and not public.

Recently, very recently, one of my private chat sessions with a friend showed up on the news feed ticker - I didn't look in the mirror but I'm sure that my face had turned as white as my first wife's wedding gown. WTF?!

My first thought was to delete my Facebook account - guess what? It's not that easy. Unless you know the right link, which is almost impossible to find, all you will do is deactivate the account - which you can re-activate by just logging back in again. Meanwhile, Facebook is still using your data and you are the only one who's not using it or benefiting from it - 'cause they own it until you absolutely delete the account. That's right, read the agreement...

Facebook is great - if you don't have a life and you just want to connect with close family and a few close friends that you would trust with your life. But, you should block all games and other apps. Otherwise, those apps use your data too. If you can bear to do it, make sure your chat thingy is disabled or just plain stay off the chat and don't say anything that you wouldn't want to see on the front page of the New York Times.

If you should want to absolutely delete your Facebook account rather than just deactivate it, here is the link:

https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account&__a=3

How the Bible Works - Part 2 -The New Testament

2011-11-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

In a single word - FEAR! In two words, apocalyptic fear, which was the fear that the world was going to end in the lifetime of the hearers of the warning.

As John the baptizer was warning to repent because the kingdom of God was at hand, Jesus likewise, when John was put in prison, (Mark 1:14) went preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand. They both warned of the wrath to come. Not only of the wrath to come, but that it was coming soon - it was "at hand" and in "this generation" at the time of their preaching their apocalyptic message.

Now, the Jews expected a Messiah at this time. Therefore, it seemed prudent to the Jews to heed such a warning or at least to listen to it. You know, just in case it may be true - why take a chance?

A man called Paul, coming on the scene following the deaths of John and Jesus, had a vision and a revelation of this soon coming kingdom of God himself and went all over the Roman world preaching his own message of this kingdom of God that was soon to come. Of course, messianic Jews had been way ahead of Paul and already had preached about a coming messiah. This was nothing new that Greek and Roman believers in Judaism had not already heard about. The messianic Jews had already paved the way for Paul to preach his own religion. Paul preached that the messiah they looked for had already came and was due to return at any time to judge the world. Anyone who wouldn't listen and convert to Paul's religion would be destroyed by the returning Christ.

Judgment day, which was already believed in all over the empire, was coming soon and all the unbelievers would be destroyed by fire in God's wrath and they only had a "short time" (1 Cor. 7:29). No time to waste - just as the writer of 1Peter 4:7 said, "the end of all things is at hand" and "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10).

But, hey, we Christians don't have to worry, because there will be a new heavens and a new earth for the believers in Paul's religion of Christianity to live in (2 Pet. 3:13).

Now, all this was predicted to be "at hand" over 1,900 years ago and still people are accepting this story out of the fear that it may yet happen. And, that's how the Bible works, it works on people's FEAR. They fear to NOT believe it, no matter how silly it sounds to them in this modern age - after all, why chance it? But, why do they take their fear and call it love? Simple. They're afraid not to, they are simply afraid to let go of a 2,000 year old myth. They call it "love" because that sounds better to them than does "fear".

Can you really blame them though? After all, by the 4th century, unbelievers and other sinful people will be tortured in hell-fire for all eternity. What is and how long is eternity? Eternity is truly a meaningless word with no intelligible definition outside of a theological one, yet even the unintelligent think they know what it means.

In this one life we have, there are two paths a person may follow:

There is the broad path that most folks follow toward superstitious beliefs in the supernatural. There is a lot of advantage to this path, in that you will have a lot of company along the way, if you like clapping hands and singing praises to an invisible deity.

Then there is the narrow path toward actual knowledge based on facts and evidence. This is the correct path, in my opinion, and you may not have a lot of company. In fact, it can be pretty lonely, but there will be no superstitious fear to bind your life to deluded, religious fanatics trying to control even what and how you think.

Jesus is Coming Soon!

2011-09-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

Long before there was a Bart Ehrman to point out the obvious, I could tell which of the "epistles" in the New Testament were Paul's and which were later forgeries. In the "authentic" Pauline letters, the end of the age was imminent and they were living in the last days of the last generation and time was short. In the forgeries, that part doesn't matter anymore, what matters is the traditions of the church and defending the faith and hanging onto what was left.

When Jesus said, according to the unknown gospel writers, that "this generation" would not pass away before all was fulfilled, he meant "this generation" that he was living in and no other. However, he was wrong and excuses have been made for it ever since. His apocalyptic prophecy of the soon coming restoration of the kingdom to Israel, called the kingdom of God, didn't happen. What to do, what to do? Spiritualize it away, that's what. Make the kingdom be "within" you and go to heaven when you die etc. Cults, like the Christadelphians, have the end time in every generation that rolls around - always just a few years from now, just out of reach but you can almost see it from here...all you have to do is just hang in there just a little while longer.

It's that obvious imminent return of Jesus to reign in Jerusalem that didn't happen that, to me, proves the whole Xian religion is based on a false prophecy by a first century Jewish apocalyptic preacher and merely propped up by apologetic lies and pretentious babblers and the naive beliefs of otherwise good people.

Now, I've never read any of Bart Ehrman's books but I can tell by what other people have written about him that he has figured this out and people hate him for it.

Skewed Views of Science

2011-08-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Gittin' Unscrewed

2011-08-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

╔══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╗
☼ In Memory of Becky Rush ☼
╚══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╝

Gittin' Unscrewed
By Becky

My top ten teachings of the Worldwide Church of God
that have screwed up my thinking.

1. That "GAWD" wants me to get down on my knees, grovel a bit, and beg! his mightiness for my daily food, shelter and safety.

I didn't ask him/her to be born...and if there IS a god, why the hell WOULDN'T it take care of my basic needs??? What kind of sicko mind requires that of its' creatures??? I don't require it of my beloved fur-friends... And how can I hold my head up when I am told that I DON'T receive the things I need because I either didn't ask, ask properly, or because I need to learn some sort of lesson?

2. That I am "Peculiar" and "Chosen" by the Almighty.

Wow...doesn't that one make me feel "special!" HA! Yup. I'm SOOOoo much better than everyone around me...right. Hey, if I'm so special, then how's come I gotta grovel???

3. Perhaps the most cruel one of all..."The heart is deceitful...(so much so that you can be fooled and not even know it!)..."

The way they taught this made me doubt and mistrust even myself! The very one I need to listen to, ME, is the one I'm told I cannot trust! Well...then who AM I supposed to trust? Them? Gawd, thru them? Or nobody? This one has impaired my thinking more than I can say...it has affected every aspect of my life, making it difficult to get close to people, have friends and relationships...it has broken up beautiful loves and caused deep pain. How DARE THEY! How dare whoever? wrote that horrid book, the bible!! Perhaps there IS some truth in being careful and questioning ones motives...but Worldwide Church of God used what could have been a GOOD tool to indoctrinate us into confusion and misguided loyalty to THEM!
Just because I'm away from that influence doesn't mean it no longer impacts my life. This scripture STILL comes to mind...at unwanted times, and causes trouble. Working on stopping the recordings in my head...but it's hard!!!

4.   "Gawd" will only give you what you can bear.

Oh brother. Sounds like the saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Well, duh, yeah, I guess so!
But are you whole after going thru something terrible? Aren't you CHANGED in a fundamental way? Aren't you "weaker" than you were? If I cut my arm with a knife every day, over and over, wouldn't I be scarred? Is a scar "strong?" Or is it just a scar...indicator of trauma! Who wants to be scarred for life?! Not me, though I don't see how I can avoid it, completely. But the Worldwide Church of God seemed to believe that these "scars" are badges of honor! Yikes.

5. You will be a KING in the NEW WORLD TOMORROW! You will RULE over those "unwashed" millions...

Thought there would be NO gender differences in the brave new world..? And how can I become a "ruler" when I can't even trust myself?? What trash. Used to make me feel important...and hopeful...and eager for the new world order. Thought I'd finally be able to make some progress and change, as one of Gawd's elect and with his blessings...a little mini-god...HA! But it didn't do much for my everyday life here.. uh uh. Just a wantabe...

6. You will probably have to up and leave everything and everyone behind when it comes time to run to safety...and those left will probably have to suffer terribly from what is coming...

Now gee...that sure makes me want to take off to Petra, doesn't it you? Yeah...leave kids, husband, pets, parents...whatever...to struggle thru something worse than has ever happened to anyone! While I sit and bask in the glow of Herbert W. Armstrong and his henchmen...waiting for the glorious return and final battles...holy cow! What a story line... Used to cry myself to sleep with worry over my hubby and parents and sister...and I did a lot of groveling to the ceiling in the hopes that, by my hard work and near-perfection, they might be spared this. What a heavy burden.

7.   The "Yellow" race is mean, heartless and cruel. The "Red" race is shallow, spineless and lazy. The "Black" race is shiftless, lazy, horny and uneducateable. Don't marry them...don't even have them for friends!

Ok...talk about stereotyping! That I've known "white" people to hold all of these traits...guess it doesn't mean anything, huh? But you know? To this day, these thoughts spring forth when I meet a new patient or person on the street...just for a nanosecond, yes, but there nonetheless. I shove it back down...hard! And force myself to keep an open mind...but it bothers me that it even surfaces at all! Before the Worldwide Church of God, I believe I was as unprejudiced as a person can be. Came from a family who didn't have these ideas...but thanks to Worldwide Church of God, I learned them. They made some sort of sense at the time...but only because I wanted them to.

8.   "Gawd" is so far above us...like we are above monkeys...that you cannot understand his perfect mind.

Hmmm...    now there's a sure way to keep me in my place! Yup...just another little monkey...monkey see/hear...monkey do. Don't think, just shut yer trap and listen!! You're too dumb to understand the deeper things...so let us (ministers) do your thinking for you and we'll tell you what to think-say-do. Good recipe for fostering idiocy... To this day, I will acquiesce to someone in authority...until I realize they may not be the sharpest tool in the shed...then I turn on the ole brain and figure things out for myself. But, it still causes problems...

9.   Emotion, especially as they show in those horrid Pentecostal churches, is not Gawd's way...don't let emotion have a place in your life! Stifle it!

I remember being told by McCrady that you need to place your emotions in a box, put the box on a shelf in a closet, and lock the door. (Speaking figuratively)
My question? If I'm not supposed to embrace my emotions, why do I have them?
This one has done a lot of damage...it has caused me to "stuff" a lot of things I should have experienced and dealt with. And helped me to turn off my feelings towards others, sometimes with terrible consequences. Sigh. What a wonderful thing, our emotions. Should they be controlled? Well, of course, especially those that could do harm! But turn them off??? Some might say that isn't even possible, but I am proof that it is. Rigid and inflexible control is needed...takes a lot of strength and energy...but it can be done. But the results aren't pretty.

10.   The world's problems are caused by sin, which entered the picture in the early part of the garden story. Satan wasn't able to fool the man...but he WAS able to fool the woman. She is, therefore, the weaker vessel.. mentally.

Oh, bullshit. Horse hockey. Give me a break. Couldn't there be different spins put on this sordid little tale? But, wait...ah...this is JUST the thing we might need to keep the little ladies in their place! Yes!!! It might just work! (smiling madly and rubbing hands together...) Yes. it did work. As a "Christian" country, we've done our part to keep women in their place. at least according to the religious community. Again, this has had an impact on my life. Besides #3, this one has caused the most grief for me. I thought I had to find the man the minister deemed good enough (whatever that was) and then take my place behind him...and stifle my own dreams, creativity, emotions...and be a helper to his higher agenda. What a crock. Does someone need to be "in charge" in a relationship? In charge of what? Of the other person?? Of their finances?? Of their very way of life?? Gee...I don't know, but wouldn't a collaboration make more sense? Why does one person need to be in control? Because they are afraid?

Well...I guess I could come up with more...and I may! :) But I guess I got it out of my system, for awhile. These things are hard to get rid of and I hate it that they are still with me...I believed this crap sooo deeply...and am ashamed now that I did. But, at least I don't anymore...sigh.

Well, what do you think? Bunch o' crap, huh?

Gittin unscrewed....Becky

copyright © 1997-2003 by The Painful Truth. All rights reserved.

Escaping Christadelphianism

2011-07-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Why people become Christadelphians and how they may be assisted to escape from the sect

Contributed by John Bedson

‘Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do' - James Harvey Robinson

‘Thinking must never submit itself, neither to a dogma, nor to a party, nor to a passion, nor to an interest, nor to a preconceived idea, nor to whatever it may be if not to facts themselves; because for it to submit, it would be to cease to be’ - Henri Poincaré

‘Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.’ - André Gide

The overwhelming majority of Christadelphians are converted because they are born into a Christadelphian family and they adopt the faith of their parents.

Generally speaking most children accept the family religion. Catholics beget more Catholics, Protestants beget more Protestants, Muslims beget more Muslims and Christadelphians beget more Christadelphians. So on it goes, around the globe in all religions.

Young minds are naturally attracted to adopt the beliefs and ways of their parents. To do so bestows an evolutionary advantage and that is why this behaviour is born and bred into us all. Since the time that Homo Sapiens first left Africa, survival critically depended on families and clans remaining together and not being dispersed. Families that split up would soon be lost to posterity and their genes not passed on.

The children of Christadelphian parents who follow their parents into the family religion are not displaying "faith", they are obeying the instructions coded into their genes and adopting the mindset and beliefs of their parents.

Adolescents think that they are rebelling against the authority of their parents, but in reality they are following in their parent’s footsteps. Tell any Catholic, Protestant, Muslim or Christadelphian that the primary reason that they maintain their affiliation is because of childhood conditioning and they will reply that you are mistaken. They will claim that they hold their conviction because of the authority of the Papacy, or that they object to the authority of the papacy, or the prophet was inspired by Allah, or that Dr Thomas rediscovered the Truth. However the end result is that religious affiliation is not so much a matter of faith and conviction, but rather it is a result of a genetic lottery.

The majority of humans are born into their religion. That is how it has been since the beginning of history. Every religious person claims a personal conviction and maintains that they have thought it out for themselves and formed their own independent opinion by vigorously examining their own beliefs. But the reality is that the “churn” of people switching between, or abandoning belief systems is very small. Childhood conditioning has created a powerful cognitive bias in their minds towards a certain religion that is almost impossible for them to overcome.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with "faith". It is like an addiction to crack cocaine or nicotine that cannot be broken. The great majority of Christadelphian offspring will be baptised. Childhood conditioning has "hooked" them and they are unable to escape from the family religion. The religion is actually a nonsense, but to the infant mind it all makes perfect sense to believe what they are taught by their parents. As their minds mature the imprint of that conditioning becomes stronger, not weaker.

It is not just the Christadelphians, all childhood religious imprinting works the same way. "Give me a child until he is five and I will give you a Catholic for life" is the Jesuit pledge. I was a Christadelphian child until I was fifteen and it took another twenty wasted years before I could shake my mind free. I was lucky to escape.

Tens of thousands of Christadelphians are still trapped in the Christadelphian belief system convinced that they are there because of the exercise of their own free will and intelligently considering the facts. But they are wrong. They are like North Korean children praising "The Dear Leader" because that is what they learned from their parents. It is NOT faith - it is an invisible, mental, genetic trap.

Because the walls of the trap are invisible they cannot escape because they do not see the walls of the trap and they think themselves to be free. But they are not free. They are held in a matrix that has an overwhelming power to fool their minds into thinking that a nonsensical religion, completely lacking in rational evidence, is "The Truth" when in reality it is a fantasy.

Is it God's purpose in the "Latter Days" to confer salvation only on the descendents of a tiny number of families primarily in the Anglo-Saxon English speaking area of the world? The Bible certainly does not predict such a bizarre outcome. So why has it worked out that way for the Christadelphians?

It has worked out that way because a minor Nineteenth Century American revivalist sect has survived into the Twenty First Century by being handed down through families that have shut their minds to the realities of what is going on in the outside world.

The Amish and other sects have survived for exactly the same reason. It has nothing to do with faith, or God, or the Bible, or anything at all supernatural or divine. John Thomas's beliefs have been preserved in families who are unknowingly obeying their genetic instructions to preserve the family religion.

Those same genes were bred into their ancestors in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago as a way to strengthen families and the clan in order to improve the chances of survival in a hostile world. It's not Christadelphianism that is in their genes; it is the preservation of family ways that is in their genes.

If they had been born Amish or Mormon they would be Amish or Mormons instead of Christadelphians. It is not "faith" or divine providence, it is a refusal to let go of the past and use the mind productively. It is the natural human tendency to take the easy option and avoid facing hard realities. Christadelphianism is not a collection of God's saints; it is an ostrich with its head buried deep in the sands of time.

Therefore I observe a disturbing principle operating: The world is populated by billions of humans who are following thousands of different and exclusive religions into which they have been born by a mindless genetic lottery.

They are all convinced that they have thought it out for themselves and that everyone else in all of the other religions is wrong. You could argue that most of them go along with the family religion because it is the easy option. But, challenge the faith of any of these people and you will be surprised at the vigour with which they defend their position.

Because the great majority remain in the beliefs into which they have been born, it must be obvious that, re-examining those beliefs rigorously when of a more mature age, is not the determining factor in establishing faith or conviction. Instead it appears to me that childhood conditioning is the causal factor. “But I re-examined my beliefs rigorously” a believer will claim. My rejoinder is: “Yes - that’s what they all say!” "Re-examining beliefs rigorously” almost always results in the subject reinforcing his previously held belief in the family religion and often makes him into a stronger adherent and promoter of the family faith.

That is what happened to me. I know because "I've been there and done that". I was as misguided as the Christadelphians who remain in the religion now. I am not smarter than them because I left; I was just extremely fortunate that things worked out for me the way that they did. They are unfortunate because they did not get the break that I did.

A minority of people join a new faith which is not the family religion. A small number of people convert to the Christadelphian religion when it is not their family religion. However when you investigate the real reason why they converted it usually falls into one of the following categories:

1. They marry INTO the faith. Therefore romance or sex is the inspiration for their conversion, not intellectual conviction. If challenged they will deny this. But as it is a world-wide, faith-wide phenomenon it is quite obvious that the desire for sex and romance preceded their declaration of "faith" in the new religion, or in Christadelphianism. One Christian sect "Hookers for Jesus" recognizes the power of this basic human instinct and uses sex as the primary method of conversion. Sure, it can result in conversion, but it can hardly be called "faith". The mind has been tricked into believing something because of a greater payoff. The payoff is a partner, not life after death. The brain knows that a partner in this life is worth far more than the illusion of life after death for which evidence is totally absent.

2. They join the faith because they are expecting material reward. You only have to observe the Christadelphian "conversions" in Eastern Europe and Russia etc to see this happening. In the process of time the Christadelphian religion might eventually transform into some sort of social welfare organization rather than a religion and that would be no bad thing. But converts rising from the waters of baptism with hands held out for welfare makes a mockery of the faith. Bribery is NOT conversion.

3. They join the faith because they desire social acceptance and fraternity. I have seen this happen on several occasions during my time in the Christadelphians. One of the people that I "converted" joined for that reason. I could have told him that we were aliens from another planet for all he cared. He was just lonely and we were the answer to his problem. He died in the faith and we gave him a good send-off. But we did not send him to God's Kingdom. We sent him to the grave and that is where he will remain for all eternity, along with all the other Christadelphians and all the members of every religion that has ever been or that ever will be. It was all an empty sham except for the fact that he did find some friends in his declining years. That was the only good that came of the whole thing. If people want to join the Christadelphians to make friends then I'm all for it; but let's not kid ourselves that faith has got anything to do with it.

The reality is that it is extremely difficult to get anyone at all to join the Christadelphian religion for the biblical reason - that they have been converted by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through the Word of God. You know from your own experience and I know from mine that Christadelphian preaching is a thankless task. It is extremely rare that you ever convert anyone at all unless it is for one of the reasons given above and those reasons are NOT biblical conversion; they are decisions arrived at as a result of faulty cognitive bias or pressure.

Christadelphians stay in their religion because the faith acts as a network of social involvement and support. To leave the religion means to be judged and ostracised by one's relatives and peers and no one wants that to happen. Being a member of a group that believes irrational things makes those beliefs seem somehow normal. You look at all the other "normal" people in the group who believe what you believe and it reassures your mind that your beliefs are socially accepted because everyone else in the group thinks the same way. But the problem with that arrangement is that what is actually happening is that each member of the group is reinforcing the paranoia of everyone else.

It's a bit like the story of the emperor who rode through the streets naked. The crowd saw nothing wrong with the spectacle and were held in a collective delusion with each member of the crowd reinforcing the mistaken belief of the others. Only when an outsider cried out that the emperor was naked did the illusion vanish and the individual members of the group realise that they had been foolish.

An individual who thought that he could gain eternal life, murder unbelievers and help rule the world for a thousand years would be diagnosed as being seriously paranoid and prescribed sedating medication; they might even be restrained under a mental health order. But when such an individual is a member of a fifty thousand strong group like the Christadelphians, who all think the same way, the rational constraints of secular society no longer act to balance the person's thinking to a healthy psychological frame of mind.

Indeed, society itself tends to ring-fence such madness, labels it as a "Faith" and accords a level of respect to such a faith. It is only when a "Faith" begin to stockpile weapons, or release sarin gas on Japanese subways, or marry off underage girls to old men, or shoot a US Congressman, or fly planes into skyscrapers that society decides that the "Faith" has crossed the line between religious fantasy and reality and the leaders of the "Faith" are thrown into jail.

"Faiths" are tolerated by society just so long as the faith does not turn into reality. Christadelphians don't turn their faith into reality. They just keep patiently waiting for a return of Christ that will never happen. Society tolerates them, they reinforce each other's delusion, their children propagate the myth to the following generation and so it goes on.

It keeps going on because the faith and reality are not allowed to bump into each other. As long as the Jews hang on to a slither of Palestine the Christadelphians will forget that J Thomas told them that Christ would return in the middle of the Nineteenth Century one hundred and sixty years ago and they will keep hoping that the impossible will happen and that they will hit the jackpot when the overdue Christ makes his appearance. If Iran drops a few nuclear weapons onto Israel, or if the Israelis make a genuine peace with the Palestinians, faith will crash into reality for the Christadelphians and the bottom will drop out of the religion. Only a few die-hards will remain and the passage of time will finish them off.

Christadelphians believe in and defend their religion because of faulty cognitive bias. All the other believers in religions are similarly deceived. The fact that all the different religions claim that they hold the exclusive truth and that everyone else is mistaken is powerful evidence that they are all mistaken. The same forces for conversion operate in all religions and no less in Christadelphianism. People are born into the religion, or they marry into it, or they join in the expectation of reward, or they are lonely and desire social support. Like homeopathy, voodoo, astrology, clairvoyance, spiritualism, witchcraft, alien abduction, crop circles, water divining, flat Earth theory and similar delusions it is misguided, superstitious, naïve, dysfunctional thinking. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a “God”; it is a manifestation of human frailty making a mistake.

The good news is that leaving the Christadelphians is easier then ever before. Thousands of us Ex-Christadelphians have successfully escaped from the sect and established wonderfully successful and satisfying lives in the “normal” world outside the religion. People are leaving the Christadelphians faster than at any time in its history.

The Internet provides a very effective method of providing support and encouragement to leavers and you can be assured of tremendous help from us if you have the courage to cleanse your mind from the poison of distorted Christadelphian thinking.

Like us, you will find the social upheaval of leaving to be upsetting because your previous Christadelphian friends will almost certainly reproach and reject you for your bravery in rejecting their dogma. Like us, you will feel the shame and guilt that you once believed things that bordered on the insane. But we ex-Christadelphians are a thousand times stronger than the people that we have left behind because we are thinking rationally.

Intelligent, sensible human reasoning has been the driving force of human progress throughout all of history and that same force is now operating to bring an end to Christadelphian dogma, doctrine and the whole ridiculous eschatology. I implore you to open your eyes and realise that what the Christadelphians call “The Truth” is actually a ragbag of lies and paranoid thinking. Your road to discovering truth must commence by walking down a path that is called disbelief. If you have the nerve to undertake that journey you will free your mind from Christadelphian captivity and, like us, you will pity the poor souls who remain, waiting for a Kingdom that throughout the ages of eternity - is never going to happen.

John Bedson
Melbourne Australia
bedson@pacific.net.au

Ex-Christadelphian since 1986

Prayer Trials

2011-07-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

The Superiority of Christianity

2011-04-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

Please come in, dear Madam and Sir

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Buddhism - too hard, Islam - all those prayers, Judaism - oy, so many rules. Ah Christianity - all the answers, all the salvation, all the time. Just give your heart to Jesus, say I'm sorry and accept that you are a sinner and dirtier than filthy rags. Christianity also provides endless opportunities to bully and manipulate other people - especially the young ones. This makes it a remarkably good religion for the parent or teacher.

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The Jesus Swindle

2011-03-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

How the Bible Works - Part 1 -The Old Testament

2010-12-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

An article contributed by John Bedson

“Everything is not what it seems” - Selena Gomez

Introduction

For twenty years as a Christadelphian I believed and taught the “Foundation” statement of the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith (BASF):

“That the book currently known as the Bible, consisting of the Scriptures of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles, is the only source of knowledge concerning God and His purposes at present extant or available in the earth, and that the same were wholly given by inspiration of God in the writers, and are consequently without error in all parts of them, except such as may be due to errors of transcription or translation.”

However as time passed I came to realize that this “foundation” statement did not correctly and adequately define what the Bible is and how it works. This note offers an alternative way to understand how the Bible works.

What Is The Bible?

When we open the Bible at the first page and read: “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth……” it is not unreasonable to ask:

Who wrote this?
Is it true?
Is it inspired by God?

The answer to the first question cannot be known because the author or authors of the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) are anonymous. They are traditionally believed to have been written by Moses. However Moses himself never claimed authorship of those books and nowhere in the Bible is that claim made by anyone else. According to the Bible “The Law” was given by Moses (John1:17) but it is silent as to who wrote the first five books which are mostly history and not “The Law”. Moses is invariably spoken of in the third person, which would not be the case if he were the author. The Bible does not tell us who wrote the historical parts of the Pentateuch.

The answers to the second and third questions are not as easy as they appear. Yes it is included in our Bible, but the BASF foundation statement has specifically told us that many sections of the Bible are NOT inspired by God because of “errors of transcription or translation.”

For example in the King James Version of 1 John 5:7 we read:
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

Christadelphians reject this passage and often omit it in public readings of the King James Version of the Bible. All modern versions of the Bible leave it out and even the official Latin Text (a revision of the Vulgate) of the Roman Catholic Church do not include it in their “Bible.”

The reason why they unanimously refuse to accept this section of the Bible as being inspired by God is because it is considered to be an “error of transcription.” Erasmus, the compiler of the “Textus Receptus”, on which the King James Version was based, noticed that the passage was not found in any of the Greek manuscripts at his disposal and refused to include it until presented with a manuscript containing it, while still suspecting, as is now agreed, that the verse was a forgery.

Erasmus held in his hands a copy of 1 John 5:7, written in an ancient manuscript, in the original Greek language and script, which supported his Trinitarian belief, but he only included it in his Bible under protest, because he did not believe that section was genuine. The Christadelphians agree with his judgment and warn us in their foundation statement that we must be wary of these sorts of “errors” in other parts of the Bible.

So even if a section of the Bible is written in the original language and script, in an ancient manuscript, the BASF quite rightly expects us to use our own critical judgment to decide whether or not it should be included in our Bible.

Which Parts Of The Bible Are Inspired By God?
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3: 16) but according to the BASF “All Scripture” is something different to the Bible that the Christadelphians carry to their meetings. The foundation statement is emphatic that “errors” abound in our Bibles because of faulty or fraudulent transcription or translation.

In the same chapter Timothy is told by Paul that the way that he should distinguish between this truth and error is by reading and interpreting the scriptures according to Paul’s way of thinking: “Thou hast fully known my doctrine …….. continue thou in the things which thou hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” (2 Tim. 10-14). In other words, studying the Scriptures is not sufficient, because the reader could be misled or misunderstand, as indeed was happening in Paul’s time (2 Tim. 3:1-9). According to the apostle, someone reliable has to tell the reader what the words of Scripture mean before they read them, otherwise they may not make sense of the Scriptures and come to believe in lies. Presumably it must also be necessary for someone reliable to tell the reader what is and what is NOT Scripture.

“I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying I have dreamed, I have dreamed” (Jeremiah 23:25) tells us that some prophecy given in the name of God was fraudulent and some of it was included in the Scriptures. For example the words “I have dreamed, I have dreamed” are definitely fraudulent and not inspired by God even though they are part of a (false) prophecy that is included in the Bible.

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1: 21) tells us that sections of prophecy were given by God, but it does not tell us which prophecies are genuine and which are erroneous or fraudulent.

“How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely” (Jeremiah 8:8) warns us that believers can be misled by scribes who forged false sections of Scripture (“the law of the Lord”).

The Bible itself also warns us of serious mistakes and muddle within its own content. For example Matthew 27:9 alerts us to the fact that a section of the book of Zechariah (probably the final six chapters) including Zechariah 11:13 was written by Jeremiah, before Zechariah was even born.

I could multiply examples like this a hundredfold but as this is a short note I do not have the space. However I have perhaps said enough to make my point. We would be wrong to accept everything in the Bible as literal truth or as “inspired” by a Supreme Being when both the Bible itself and the Christadelphian BASF tell us that this is not true.

Books That Have Been Lost From The Bible
Another important fact that should be considered is that many of the original books of the Bible are now lost and no longer constitute part of the modern Bible as we know it.

For example in Numbers 21: 14 it is stated, "Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord………." The famous account of the sun and moon's standing still for Joshua is related "Is not this written in the Book of Jasher?" (Josh. 10: 13). David's Lament over Jonathan and Saul, in 2 Samuel 1: 17-27, is quoted with the reference, "Behold, it is written in the Book of Jasher." This Book of Jasher is several other times quoted, as is the “Book of the Wars of the Lord.” After all that is told of Solomon down to the time of his death, it is stated, "Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the “Acts of Solomon?" (1 Kings 11: 41)

There are repeated references to, and quotations from the Book of the “Chronicles of the Kings of Judah” (e.g., 1 Kings 15: 7, 23); and the Book of the “Chronicles of the Kings of Israel” (e.g., 2 Kings, 14: 15, 28). “The History of Samuel the Seer”, “The History of Nathan the Prophet”, “The History of Gad the Seer” are all referred to in 1 Chron. 29: 29. In another verse we have references to “The Book of Nathan the Prophet”, and “The Prophecy of Ahijah”, and “The Visions of Iddo the Seer” (2 Chron. 9: 29 ). We are referred to “The Histories of Shemaiah the Prophet” and of “Iddo the Seer”, concerning genealogies (2 Chron. 12: 15). And we are told that "the rest of the acts of Ahijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in “The story of the prophet Iddo" (2 Chron. 13: 22 ). Also, "Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu, ... who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel" (2 Chron. 20:34 ). “The Acts of the Kings of Israel” (2 Chron. 33: 18) is a work lost to posterity, as is also "The Sayings of the Seers" (2 Chron. 33:19). In the New Testament the “Book of Enoch” is extensively quoted (Jude 14, 15) (quoted from Enoch 2:1). However this missing book of the Bible is NOT lost. It is included in the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and portions of its ancient manuscript were discovered amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls which are at least two thousand one hundred and fifty years old! – But it is NOT in our Bible. Jude 9 quotes from the “Assumption of Moses” book as if it were Scripture, but it is not in our Bible and we only have an incomplete copy with large parts missing.

Books That Should Be Removed From The Bible
It is well known that a great many other apocryphal (spurious - doubtful) books have been removed from the Bible in antiquity and a few hundred others were considered for inclusion and rejected by the Jewish religious leaders or by the Early Church Fathers. Some of the apocryphal books remain in the Septuagint Bible. Some books that remain in our Bible slipped through the net and are obviously apocryphal. For example almost all scholars, theologians and most Christadelphians would agree that the Book of Esther cannot possibly be part of Scripture as it is full of historical inaccuracies and contributes nothing to our understanding of God’s purpose. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain examples of every book of the Old Testament but NOT Esther. It was not part of the Bible of the Essenes. The Song of Solomon is another book that makes no sense being included in our Bible and the Book of Revelation appears to be some sort of Jewish/Christian apocalypse work that is incomprehensible to everyone including the Christadelphians who rarely attempt to expound its meaning.

The Bible Of Jesus And The Apostles
Jesus was born into a hybrid, multiethnic, Roman, Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic culture. Several very different Bibles existed in his time. For example there were the Hebrew Masoretic texts used in the temple, the Targums which were Aramaic translations of the Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint from Alexandria and the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes. However the majority of Old Testament quotations in the Greek New Testament are from the Greek Septuagint Old Testament, primarily from Psalms, Isaiah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and the Book of the Twelve which were the prophets. For example, when Jesus read Isaiah (61:1-2) in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-19), he used the language of the Greek Septuagint as his Bible. The early Christian Churches also referred to the Septuagint as their source of Scripture.

So when the Apostle Paul wrote in the Greek language to Timothy "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3: 16) he was speaking about the “Scripture” of the Greek Septuagint. When Peter wrote in Greek “Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1: 21) he meant the prophecies contained in the Greek Septuagint. Why would the early Christians, who were mostly Gentiles, use the Hebrew or Aramaic Bible when they could not understand those languages? They spoke Greek and so they used the Greek Septuagint Bible.

It is hardly surprising that Christ and his apostles preferred the Greek Septuagint version of the Scriptures because the Hebrew Masoretic texts and their canon were written, preserved and authorized by the Scribes and Pharisees who were the deadly enemies of Christ and the early Church and they were the people who instigated the crucifixion of Jesus and the persecution of the early Christians. Christ said of these people in Matthew 23: “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in………therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation……………….Woe unto you, ye blind guides…..which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel……….for ye are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men’s bones and uncleanness……….within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity…….ye are the children of them which killed the prophets…..ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?..... Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city.”

Would you want those crooks to write your Bible? Would you trust them to decide which books were included and excluded from its canon? Would you consider them to be reliable scribes to guard against “errors of transcription or translation”? Do you think that they were honest enough to be trusted with your eternal salvation by composing your Bible? Or would you prefer to use the Bible of Christ and the Apostles?

The bad news is that the Old Testament of your Bible and of all modern translations is the one that came from the scribes and Pharisees. You have a version translated from the Hebrew Masoretic texts. Your New Testament came from the Pagan Roman Emperor Constantine and his murderous henchmen.

You have thirty nine books in your Old Testament, but guess what? Christ and his Apostles had forty nine books in their Old Testament, which both Paul and Peter claim to be inspired by God! For example Hebrews 11:35 appears to be a general quotation from 2 Maccabees 7 which was part of Paul’s Bible but you will not find it anywhere in your Old Testament.

Chaos And Confusion
So what are we to make of all this? The Christadelphian Statement of Faith tells us that the Bible contains errors and the Bible itself says the same thing. Jeremiah warns of false scribes misleading the faithful. We have shown that the false scribes who gave us our Old Testament were the ones who killed Jesus and persecuted the Early Church. Christ called them “blind guides” and said that they “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.” Yet these are the people that the Christadelphians have trusted to give them a reliable Old Testament which they hope is “inspired by God” and will help them to attain eternal life in the Kingdom of God. The whole thing is about as crazy as handing over your retirement savings to Bernard Madoff or the Mafia to provide you with a secure and happy future!

The apostle Paul told Timothy that you can only understand the Scriptures if someone reliable explains their meaning and sorts out the truth and error. We have learned that some parts of the Bible need to be removed because they are spurious and the Christadelphians have done just that with 1 John 5:7. Many books of the Bible have already been removed, or were excluded before they could be added to the Bible. A large number of books of the Bible, which were source material for historical parts of the Bible and books of the prophets, have been lost thousands of years ago and we have little or no idea what was in them, even though the Bible urges us to read them. One book (Enoch) was written before the birth of Christ, is found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, prophesies the coming of Christ and is quoted by the Bible but is excluded from the Bible! Different Christian religions and sects include and exclude different books from the Bible.

Which Scripture Is Inspired?
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3: 16) but how are we to know what is or is not, or was or was not “Scripture”? For a Christadelphian to hold up the Bible and claim that it is “inspired by God” is absurd. The Scriptures are not fixed, but rather they are something that changes and evolves. Books, passages and sections enter and leave the Bible over time. Abraham had no Bible. Moses perhaps had a short Bible. Jeremiah had a longer Bible. By Christ’s time the Bible would have filled an entire library, although some of the books were already lost and some were hidden in Dead Sea caves. By the time of the Emperor Constantine in the third century AD they had so much Bible that they were burning hundreds of its books because it was too much for anyone to read and it was driving them crazy trying to make sense of it all.

Little wonder that the BASF writes about “errors of transcription and translation”! The printing press had not been invented back then and those poor guys had to write it all out by hand thousands of times over and over again. They must have made millions of mistakes over the thousands of years in which they worked, writing and copying it all out by hand. The Bible claims that the original Scripture was inspired by God, but it does not explain what constitutes Scripture. Nowhere does it claim that the scribes were empowered by the Holy Spirit to not make any mistakes in transcription or translation or that the Holy Spirit guided them as to what material should be included in the holy canon of the Bible and what should be excluded. On the contrary, Jeremiah is emphatic that false scribes writing The Law of The Lord can mislead the faithful. We would be foolish to ignore his warning.

The Old Testament Does Not Claim To Be Inspired
In fact the Old Testament never claims that the Holy Spirit “inspired” anyone to write history. That is a novel Christian idea that would be foreign to anyone living before Christ. If you could go back in time and tell the people who wrote the historical parts of the Bible that they were inspired to write by God, they would almost certainly stone you to death for blasphemy! They understood that they were writing history and like all good historians of their time they were making a good story better by using invention, embellishment, borrowing other peoples’ historical stories and by using poetic license. It did not matter to them that much or all of what they wrote was not true because in the ancient world historians were story tellers. History to them was what Hollywood or computer games are to us today. It was entertainment in a boring world.

We do not imagine that Harry Potter is a real person who can perform magic just because we have seen the films or read the books. We understand that J K Rowling is telling us a story (which is not true) with an acceptable moral and ethical theme of good triumphing over evil. The people who wrote the historical parts of the Bible were the J K Rowling equivalents of their day. They were inventing stories with a moral message.

The Christadelphian Mistake
Christadelphians think that they are being “fundamentalists” by believing the literal truth of every word of the nonsense contained in the book of Genesis and the rest of the modern Bible, about God creating the world in six days, a talking snake, Noah’s ark etc. But if the people who wrote those words could come back and speak to us they would say “Are you nuts? We borrowed those stories from the Chaldean creation epics that we read during the Jewish exile in Babylon and stitched them onto the start of another scroll that contained stories about Abraham. It made the Abraham story better because it set him in a historical context and an ethical background of God opposing evil.”

A real Christadelphian “fundamentalist” would understand the “fundamentals” of how history was composed in the ancient world and believe the literal truth of what actually happened. What actually happened was that those stories were NOT true! Things never happened that way at all! But that does not matter because they were not written as true stories. They were written for a very different purpose. They WERE written and that IS true. It is true that they were written and it is true that they are great stories. Just like it is true that J K Rowling wrote some great stories about the evil Voldemort being vanquished by the morally upright Harry Potter. It is true that she wrote those stories and their moral message is true. Good people should triumph over wickedness. That is true. But the actual stories are fiction, just like large parts of the Bible are fiction. But that does not matter; in fact it is completely irrelevant to the main issue and purpose of the stories. If the reader can get the moral message from the story, the writer has accomplished everything that he set out to achieve.

The writer of Genesis did not have the faintest idea as to how the world and living organisms came to exist. He knew nothing about evolution or genetics or the DNA helix. He was stuck way back in the Bronze Age and he did not even have iron tools. So he made up his creation stories or borrowed them from the Chaldeans. What else was he expected to do? But what he did do and what is true, is that he wrote some of the most widely read and brilliant stories ever composed by a human. That IS true. In that sense Genesis and all of the Biblical history Is true, even if none of it never happened or did not happen in the way described.

The Truth
Christadelphians claim to have “The Truth” but in reality what they do is impose their modern day Western preconceptions on some ancient writings that worked in a completely different manner to modern writings. They then spend huge amounts of time and effort trying to defend the historical accuracy of those documents and seeking to explain away the hundreds of contradictions. But they have set themselves a thankless task because that is not how those documents worked. The original writers were writing entertainment with a moral message.

Let us embrace the fascinating stories that these people composed and endorse their moral message. Enjoy the fanciful, self-contradictory history for the entertainment that it was intended to be. Reject the ethical content that does not comply with modern, enlightened human morality. Ignore the contrived, scheming writings of an ex-Pharisee control-freak like the apostle Paul. Accept the teachings of Christ when they coincide with decent human behaviour and standards of morality, but reject his bad tempered, burning in hell, judgment, eternal damnation outbursts as criminally minded, paranoid fantasizing.

Conclusion
The Bible has much to offer us if we accept it for what it is and how it really works. But we must also face the reality that the idea of it conferring eternal salvation on someone who is stupid enough to actually believe what it says is as barmy as believing that the words of J K Rowling will raise us from the dead. Harry Potter could perform magic in the printed word and in the special effects department of Warner Brothers movie studios. Likewise, Jesus Christ can perform miracles in the printed words of the English Bible. But those miracles have never lifted off the scrolls and pages on which they were written. They did not translate into the real world in which people lived and they never will. Harry Potter, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the promises of Bernard Madoff, Nigerian email scams and the Bible were all written in their entirety by humans; just as humans wrote all of the other books and writings in the world. Accept them for what they are and keep your money in your pocket. Do not invest in other people’s fantasies.

Israel Does NOT Fulfill Bible Prophecy

2010-11-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

An Article Contributed by John Bedson

In my opinion Christadelphianism can never be extinguished until the core support for its rationality has been exposed as a mistake. Christadelphian belief is now almost entirely dependent on the theory that the establishment of the State of Israel is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and that this therefore demonstrates the existence of a supernatural God and the reliability of scripture. This note intends to address this issue and to propose that these things are merely coincidental and do not prove anything at all.

The roots of Zionism go back to 587 BCE, when the Jews were carried off to captivity in Babylon and their prophets optimistically predicted that one day God would allow them to return and that the Messiah would appear at that time to establish his Kingdom based in Israel. Known as the Babylonian exile, it is verified by Babylonian records. In 539 BCE the Persians captured Babylon and permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem. It could be argued that the return was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, but others would point out that many different peoples were allowed to return to their homeland and to resume the worship of their old religions by the Persians, so the fact that it happened to the Jews was not unusual in any way. Needless to say the Messiah did not return following their return to Israel

After the Jews returned to the Holy Land, they remained Persian subjects until Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE and the Jewish people in Israel came under Greek dominion. The Hellenistic (Greek) culture and civilization was attractive to many of the Jews who progressively reformed and even abandoned their ancient beliefs and a virtual civil war erupted between the modernizing, Hellenistic Jews and the traditional orthodox Jews who struggled for control of the High Priesthood. The Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, 175–164/163 BCE, sided with the reformist Jews in this struggle and attempted to enforce Greek religion and culture and abolish the orthodox Jewish religion. It is a great pity that he did not succeed, because world history might have taken a very different course and much bloodshed might have been avoided if the Jews had followed the path of enlightened Greek philosophy instead of narrow minded orthodox religious bigotry that was the source of so much suffering of the Jewish people over the following two thousand years.

The orthodox, traditionalist Jews were suffering severe persecution and it is generally accepted by everyone except Christian fundamentalists that the book of Daniel must have been written during his reign because of the extraordinary correlation between detailed prophecies in that book and the minutia of historical events at that time. In other words, Daniel was cheating by recording history but passing it off as prophecy. The earliest copy of the book of Daniel is dated around 125-100 BCE and its first indisputable reference occurs in the book of 1Maccabees, written about 100 BCE. It was also probably about this time that six chapters from the pre-Babylonian exile book of Jeremiah were transferred by Jewish scribes to the end of the book of Zechariah so that a post Babylonian return prophet like Zechariah could appear to predict the appearance of Messiah to rescue the Jews from their Greek tormentors. This is confirmed in Matthew 27: 3-10 where the writer acknowledges that the closing section of Zechariah was in fact written by Jeremiah.

The Hellenistic Jews were much less militarized and more poorly organized than the orthodox Jews who revolted under the leadership of the Jewish Maccabeans. For a while, from 164 to 63 BCE, the Jews had a brief period of national independence but again the Messiah failed to appear. Once again the "Time of the End" was NOT the time of the end as predicted by the prophets and life went on. The Hellenistic reform of Jewry was snuffed out and the ultra-orthodox power of the conservative Jews prevailed. It was this same Pharisaic extremism that so rankled Jesus that his teaching was directed against it in a reformist style that in some ways harked back to the attempted Hellenistic reforms of earlier years. Ultimately his work resulted in a Jewish splinter group which became Christianity which later was extended to the Gentiles by teachers like Paul the apostle.

In 63 BCE, the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem and the Jews became Roman subjects this time. Friction between the Jews and the Roman continued until 70 CE, when Jerusalem was destroyed and many Jews where forced to disperse. However a not inconsiderable remnant of Jews remained in the land which we now call Israel and over the years this number increased and some also drifted back from their dispersion. It is often overlooked that Christians from the time of Christ also continued to live in the Holy Land right up to our own times. In 638 Muslim armies invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem where they remained for 1300 years and eventually became what is known as the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

The Christadelphians claim that the preservation of the Jews down the centuries of time since their exile in Roman times is a miracle. But the Greeks, Persians, Egyptians and a multitude of other peoples have also survived during the past two millennia and some like the Chinese have survived in a Diaspora whilst also keeping their homeland. The unusually exclusive nature of the Jewish religion greatly assisted their preservation in exile and helped to preserve their distinct identity as a separate people. But in many ways this has been a curse to the Jews. Because of their strict religious practices and their condemnation by the Catholics they were forced to endure ghettoization. This assisted the rabbis to maintain a rigid religious control over the minds of the inhabitants and to stultify free thought and reformist ideas amongst the Jewish people.

Following the French revolution the reformist policies of Napoleon removed the discriminatory rules against the Jews throughout Europe and to a large extent broke down the walls of the Jewish ghettos - much to the dismay of the rabbis who saw their powerful religious hold over the Jews weakened. The Jewish people had been imprisoned not only by the Gentile ghettos but also by the spiritual ghettos imposed by their strict Jewish religious leadership. There followed in the nineteenth century an amazing release of Jewish talent richly contributing to medicine, science, politics, law and the arts. It was a Jewish renaissance the like of which had never been seen before.

It was at this time that Reform Judaism took root which was a sort of Jewish Reformation from strict Jewish orthodoxy, rather similar to the Protestant Reformation against Catholicism three hundred years previous. This enlightened philosophy spread from Germany to America in the mid nineteenth century and paralleled the Reformed Reformationists, American Revisionists and Pre-Millennialist Evangelicals with whom Dr Thomas was mixing and forming his ideas about religion. These Christians developed ideas about the return of the Jews to Palestine partly because they were unhappy with the influx of large numbers of Jews from Europe. They nationalized the idea of Israel and theorized that Britain and America were a form of new Israel and Zion. They then came to believe that the prophecies of return of the Jews to Palestine must be fulfilled as a precondition to the return of Christ and the salvation of the world and this became an important part of their eschatology. Paradoxically the Jewish Reformists resisted the idea of a return to Palestine as their mandate in life, like the Hellenistic Jews two thousand years before, was to reject much of orthodox Jewish practice and custom and to assimilate into society like any other religion. By 1880 more than 90% of American synagogues were Reform.

In the nineteenth century of Dr Thomas, historic nations long ruled by one or another empire, including Greece, Hungary, and Bulgaria achieved self-government, while others, including the Czechs, Poles, Irish, and Norwegians launched national liberation movements. In this context it appeared natural for the Jews to achieve national independence in Israel. In the time of Dr Thomas approximately eighty thousand Jews already lived in Palestine, although millions more were dispersed among the nations of Europe and North America.

By expounding Bible prophecy Doctor John Thomas predicted that dozens of historical things would happen, including the return of Christ in 1866. Almost none of those things, including the return of Christ came true. Even the very tiny number of things that did come true all happened approximately one hundred and fifty years ago, causing the majority of Christadelphians today to accept that he was also mistaken about the things that he got right, because quite obviously that was NOT the time of the end and therefore it was mere coincidence that one or two things did work out for him. Few Christadelphians today would dare hold those things up as evidence of the accuracy of Bible prophecy or of Dr Thomas's talent. We accept that those historical events had nothing to do with Bible prophecy and that God did not predict the fortunes of Napoleon or the Sultan of Turkey in great detail in the book of Daniel etc as expounded by John Thomas.

Dr Thomas made so many errors that in the various republications of his works like Elpis Israel, successive publishers have been obliged to clean them up by removing entire sections so that future readers will be unable form their own judgment about the Doctor's accuracy in expounding scripture. For example in the preface to the 1924 edition brother CC Walker wrote: "From pages 388, 446 and 448, some erroneous anticipations that the efflux of time has manifested concerning the end of the age, have been omitted as a matter of course". Every time the work gets republished more and more material gets thrown out by editors of the Christadelphian magazine. In the forward to the latest (2000) version it is written: "The third part of the book deals with prophecy in relation to world affairs. Here understanding was influenced by an expectation of the Lord’s early advent, which proved premature, and much that has now to be treated with reserve derived from this outlook". In fact the works of Dr John Thomas, the founder of Christadelphianism, are so riddled with mistakes that very few young Christadelphians have ever seen or read them. They have been replaced by more recent works by modern Christadelphian writers. The writings of Dr Thomas are rather like extinct dinosaur bones that have no function but are preserved in museums as objects of curiosity.

Nevertheless, even a rationalist skeptic like me has to give the devil his due and accept that if only for once in his life, Dr Thomas did score the prophetic equivalent of a "hole in one". I have to admit that when it came to his prediction that the Jews would return to Palestine, Dr Thomas pulled the rabbit right out of the hat and held it up to the applause of the audience. Even I loudly cheered his success from age eleven to age thirty four when I finally worked out how the conjurer had performed his trick. I then promptly resigned from the Christadelphians and I never went back.

How the trick was performed

When I was a child one of my favorite comedians was Tommy Cooper. His act was always the same. He pretended to be a buffoon conjurer and all of his tricks went badly wrong. He could not make anything disappear and if he did he was unable to make it reappear again. His props fell over, he dropped his magic wand, he mixed up the playing cards and the rabbit ran away. But just occasionally one of his tricks did work out successfully and he acted surprised that it had actually happened the way that it was intended. This made the act even funnier for the audience who would roar with laughter.

Dr John Thomas operated in much the same way. He blundered around America being baptized and re-baptized changing his religious beliefs with the wind. He lurched from one restorationist group to another altering his mind as he went and castigating people who believed things that he had himself had believed only days before. He left the Church of the Disciples in America and then rejoined them in Britain, only to be thrown out again when they discovered that his beliefs were completely different to their own and that he had been faking his membership of their community. He expounded Bible prophecy with as much skill as Tommy Cooper performing magical tricks, making prophecy apply to minor events in the mid to late Nineteenth Century, telling every one that it was the "Last Days" and that Christ would soon return (1866) to establish the Kingdom and allow the Christadelphians to kill unbelievers and take their possessions. At the time it was all taken very seriously and his followers dutifully trudged to their ecclesias, read their Bibles, read their Dr Thomas magazines, discussed it at the Bible class and prepared to meet the Lord.

One hundred and sixty years later, rational people look back at his antics and laugh at the comedy of it all. It is now obvious that the man did not have the faintest idea what he was talking about. But Dr Thomas, just like Tommy Cooper, did just once in a while get lucky and one of his predictions would work out. From a rational point of view it only makes the whole show even more hilarious that he occasionally accidentally got the ball in the hole as a result of luck and blind chance. If you play for long enough and throw enough darts at a dart board you will eventually score a bulls-eye. Dr Thomas played for decades making predictions and he finally got one straight down the middle. Here is the famous quote from Elpis Israel. After you have read it I want you all to put your hands together and applaud our founding magician; because usually the poor guy had no more luck than Tommy Cooper and this was the high spot of his career. This was the day that he finally got one of his tricks to work:

"There is, then, a partial and primary restoration of Jews before the manifestation, which is to serve as the nucleus, or basis, of future operations in the restoration of the rest of the tribes after he has appeared in the kingdom. The pre-adventual colonization of Palestine will be on purely political principles; and the Jewish colonists will return in unbelief of the Messiahship of Jesus, and of the truth as it is in him. They will emigrate thither as agriculturists and traders, in the hope of ultimately establishing their commonwealth, but more immediately of getting rich in silver and gold by commerce with India, and in cattle and goods by their industry at home under the efficient protection of the British power."

In May 1948 the State of Israel was established in Palestine and sixty years later the Christadelphian celebrations have still not ended. Winston Churchill might well have said of the Christadelphians "This was their finest hour". After that it was all downhill. But for a moment let us bask in the glory that our founder eventually got a dart in the middle of the board. Ignore the hundreds of other darts on different parts of the board, all over the wall, through the windows and knee deep on the floor.

As a young child my eyes would glaze over when I heard this expounded off Christadelphian platforms. After my baptism for twenty years I gave hundreds of Christadelphian lectures hammering home my conviction that we had witnessed a miracle and that therefore the Bible was authentic. I could not see or hear God, but I could see Israel and watch Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan on the TV; that was close enough for me. Then in late 1985 I realized that I had been fooled by the slight of hand of a conjurer. It was not a miracle, it was a magic trick. And what is more it was a Tommy Cooper magic trick - it was an accident - it was a coincidence. I resigned from the Christadelphians because Christadelphianism had crumbled to dust in my hands. The final pillar of support had cracked and nothing was holding up the Christadelphian roof. My faith in that nonsensical religion was ended.

Please notice the sentence in the Elpis Israel quote above "They will emigrate thither ....... in the hope of ultimately establishing their commonwealth". Dr Thomas did not predict the establishment of the State of Israel, he merely predicted an influx of Jews into Palestine. That is the first dart to miss the board. Notice also the last phrase of the Elpis Israel quote ".... under the efficient protection of the British power". That is another dart to fall to the floor. At the time Dr Thomas wrote those words in 1848 Britain, not America was the world super-power. Palestine was governed by the Muslim power Turkey who would never tolerate a migration of Jews to Palestine. In the twentieth century, World War I ended control of Palestine by the Turks and the country came under British rule. To secure help from the Zionists, the British issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which endorsed Palestine as a national home for Jewish people. But the policy backfired and only served to alienate the Arabs. During the period of British mandate (1922-1948), the Jewish population grew from 50,000 to 600,000 people. In 1939 the British terminated their support for Zionism in order to win the support of Arab nations for the war against Germany and the axis powers. The Jews in Palestine immediately started a program of violent terrorism against the British occupying power, which was partly suspended during the Second World War. At the conclusion of the war the Jewish terrorist campaign against both the British and the Palestinians was restarted with a vengeance and large numbers of British troops were killed by the Jews. The British sought to pacify the Arabs by severely restricting Jewish migration and even turned Jewish migration ships away from Palestine and back to Europe, including to Germany where the Nazi holocaust against the Jews had recently been terminated. So Dr Thomas was quite wrong when he predicted that the Jews would return under the efficient protection of the British power. The British did all that they could to prevent the Jews from returning in any number and even executed many of those that did return as punishment for terrorist atrocities. The British created an arms embargo to prevent weapons from being imported by the Jews. The British did all in their power to destroy the Jewish attempt to create a homeland in Israel. In 1945, at British prompting, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen formed the Arab League to coordinate policy between the Arab states.

On 14 May 1948, to further pacify the Arabs, the British abandoned Palestine at a few days notice and allowed the Arab nations of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq to invade the Jewish controlled areas of Palestine. The British authorities assumed that the Jews would be annihilated within days and their problem solved. However the Arabs have never been keen to support their brethren in need. Even to this day the Palestinians are mostly supported by the European and North American nations whilst the Arabs ignore them. So the Arab attack on the one day old state of Israel was poorly supported and in the event a combined total of only twenty five thousand poorly trained and badly equipped Arab troops (many of them riding on camels) faced a much superior force of more than sixty five thousand (July 1948) well trained Jewish settler troops using the best weaponry that American Jewry could pay for. By spring 1949 the Israelis were fielding over one hundred and fifteen thousand troops against an Arab force of no more than half that number. In the previous year the Israelis had secured a treaty with the strongest Arab army of Transjordan in which they agreed to allow that country to annex the West Bank of the Jordan in exchange for not attacking the Jewish State The Jordanians kept that pledge and only engaged in skirmishes around Jerusalem to defend their areas against the Jews. The result was a relatively easy victory for the Israelis, although Jewish propaganda has portrayed it as the underdog beating overwhelming opponents. The reality was the opposite. The Arabs had actually betrayed the Palestinians and done little or nothing to help them. It was largely an Israeli war of aggression against defending Arab troops rather than the other way around. The Christadelphians proclaimed the whole thing to be a miracle, even though Bible prophecy had been jettisoned because things were not working out the way that Dr Thomas had predicted.

In fact the closer we look at the matter, the more we come to realize that Dr Thomas and the Christadelphians were in error about the whole thing, which strengthens my contention that the events surrounding the creation of the State of Israel were coincidental to Bible prophecy and in no way a fulfillment. Dr Thomas in Elpis Israel predicted that the Jews would live in "a land of unwalled villages, whose inhabitants are at rest, and dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls" under the protection of "Moab" and "Tarshish" whom he wrongly identified as Britain. Instead, the Jews created their own nation of Israel which has become the sixth strongest nation on Earth defended with amongst other things almost two hundred thermo-nuclear weapons and a fleet of German manufactured submarines capable of launching nuclear missiles almost anywhere on the planet. Israel is the eleventh largest arms exporter in the world and even sells advanced weaponry to Russia. Dr Thomas wrongly identified Russia as "Gog" whom he said would invade Israel shortly after the return of the Jews to Palestine and trigger the return of Christ to the Earth and the resurrection. But the opposite has happened. The Russians are now dependent on Israel for the supply of unmanned surveillance aircraft and are negotiating the joint production with Israel of an advanced fighter jet to counter Israel's dependence on US co-operation.

In Elpis Israel Dr Thomas predicted that Britain would also occupy Egypt, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia along with Palestine at the "Time of the End", together with a great deal of other nonsense. None of it has come true and it never will. The passage of time has proved that the book is almost entirely in error.

Our shame as Christadelphians

It is embarrassing that the founder of our religion should have proved himself to be a completely mistaken with regard to Bible prophecy and that we did not have the integrity and decency to honestly admit that we were led astray by a bombastic, self centered man. It was and still is nothing short of wrong that we hold up the establishment of the State of Israel as a vindication of our understanding of Bible prophecy when the passage of time has proved that we were wholly mistaken. Events over the past century and a half have proved that both Dr John Thomas and the prophets of Israel knew nothing at all about historical events in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty first centuries. Thirty years ago I was a Christadelphian zealot proclaiming these things. Now I realize that I was a misguided. The Christadelphians have not been right about Israel fulfilling Bible prophecy. I was wrong and they were wrong. Dr Thomas's trick in predicting the return of the Jews to Palestine was a fluke coincidence reminiscent of a Tommy Cooper conjuring trick working out while everything else fell apart in chaos and confusion and the audience laughed.

I want you to imagine that you go to your financial adviser at the age of twenty to ask for his advice about how to invest the money that you are saving for your retirement. He advises that you split your money and future savings into ten different amounts and invest them equally into ten different funds that he recommends to you. Forty five years later you reach retirement age and you find that nine of the ten funds have gone bust and you face a retirement of poverty instead of the comfort that you had hoped for. The doorbell rings and when you open the door your adviser is standing on the step. "A miracle has happened" he cries - "one of your funds came good"! Would you rejoice and congratulate him on his talent for only losing a 90% of your money?

Or imagine that you play a round of golf with a new friend. At every hole but one he takes a hundred hits at the ball and still fails to get anywhere near the green. Each hole is abandoned with lost balls, smashed windows and broken clubs until you reach the eighteenth hole. Your new friend tees up his ball, pulls out the correct club, steps up to the mark and hits the ball straight and true down the middle of the green. The ball bounces once on the grass, then onto the green and rolls right up to the flag and into the hole! Would you declare him to be the winner of the game? Would you ask him to give you coaching so that your own game can be improved?

That is how we should consider the predictions of Dr Thomas. Nostradamus also
got one or two things right amongst his thousands of mistakes, but that proves
nothing. John Thomas was no different. He once got lucky; but it is time that we realized that the Christadelphians have nothing to prove that their religion has any rational basis. The events surrounding the establishment of the State of Israel are coincidental to Bible prophecy, which is in itself highly confused and self contradictory in its predictions. That is why Christadelphians to this day argue endlessly about these prophecies – because they don’t actually make any sense. John Thomas was wrong, I was wrong and I have to say to you all – in my opinion, we were all wrong.

John Bedson
Melbourne Australia
bedson@pacific.net.au

The Physician Who Doctored the Truth

2010-11-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

An article contributed by John Bedson

"The time has come for honest men to denounce false teachers and attack false gods." - Luther Burbank

As a child nurtured in the Christadelphian faith from my mother's womb my infant mind was steeped in Christadelphian myth and legend from an early age. My father would tell me the bedtime story of how the founder of Christadelphianism, the brave Dr John Thomas at the age of twenty eight in 1832 was nearly shipwrecked aboard the Marquis of Wellesley ship while en route to America. He made a vow to God that if his life was spared he would devote himself to discovering the truth about religion. God saved the good doctor from his distress and upon reaching New York he set about reading his Bible. He soon discovered The Truth that humans had lost for nineteen hundred years and published his findings in his book "Elpis Israel" in which he also predicted the return of the Jews to Palestine. He later explained every word and phrase of the Biblical book of Revelation in intricate detail in his three volume work "Eureka". Dr Thomas was a man "raised up by God for this great work" I was told and my young, impressionable mind believed every word, not realising that I was being indoctrinated into a religion that made about as much sense as Flat Earth Theory. I read “Elpis Israel”, “Eureka”, “Faith in the Last Days”, “Exposition of Daniel” and “Christendom Astray” when I was eleven and I made up my mind that baptism was a primary goal in my life.

It was twenty years later that my dearly beloved and greatly missed friend, brother John Allfree gave me a very old copy of the five volume work "Horae Apocaliptica" by a writer named Eliot. It is a preterist exposition of the Biblical book of Revelation. The book was published prior to Dr Thomas's work Eureka. In Eureka Dr Thomas frequently heaps fiery scorn and derision on Elliot and his work, so I was interested to read this work that I thought would be junk. Imagine therefore my shock when I discovered that practically 80% of Eureka had been lifted out of Hoare Apocaliptica! Eureka was NOT an original work at all; Dr Thomas had plagiarised Elliot's work mercilessly and passed it off to the Christadelphians as an original.

Further investigation convinced me that much of "Elpis Israel", "Anatolia", "The Exposition of Daniel" and practically everything else that Dr Thomas wrote had been taken from other writer's work but not acknowledged by him. Even most of the doctrinal material and the prediction that the Jews would return to Palestine was NOT original work. He was simply lashing together other people's material and publishing it as his own ideas. The man that I had venerated as someone "raised up by God" to rediscover The Truth was a charlatan as bad as any corrupt American TV evangelist in our own times.

It would take me many hundreds of pages to thoroughly expose Dr Thomas's plagiarism in full and as I have disposed of all my religious books it is now an impossible task for me. But I strongly recommend that others take up the task of repeating the work that I undertook in the early Nineteen Eighties. I would have written it all down then, but I got so far and gave up in disgust that I had been hoodwinked by Dr Thomas for so long. However it would be unfair to leave this subject without at least one illustration of what I mean, so I submit the following as a tiny fraction of the material that is available.

"Anatolia is original throughout" wrote Doctor Thomas in the introduction to that work. Let us test that statement by comparing the following quotations from "Anatolia" with another work published forty years earlier in 1814 by Granville Penn entitled "The Prophecy of Ezekiel concerning Gog":

Dr John Thomas in "Anatolia":
"The question as to what nations are signified by Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval has long since been determined by the learned. The celebrated Bochart, about the year 1640 observed in his elaborate researches into sacred geography, that ROS, Ros, [the Hebrew word is omitted] is the most ancient form under which history makes mention of the name of RUSSIA; and he contended that Rosh and Meshekh probably denote the nations of Muscovy and Russia. 'It is credible,' says he, 'that from Rosh and Meshekh (that is the Rhossi and Moschi) of whom Ezekiel speaks, descended the Russians and Muscovites, nations of the greatest celebrity in European-Scythia.' We have indeed ample and positive testimony that the Russian nation was called Ros by the Greeks in the earliest period in which we find it mentioned, as Ethnos de oi Ros Schnthichon, peri ton archtoon Towron; that is, the Rosh are a Scythian nation bordering on the northern Taurus! and their own historians say, 'It is related that the Russians (whom the Greeks call Ros, and sometimes Rosos, Rosos) derived their name from Ros, a valiant man who delivered his nation from the yoke of its tyrants.'" p. 65

Granville Penn in "The Prophecy of Ezekiel Concerning Gog":
"If we next enquire what nations are signified by those three proper names we shall find that this question also has been long determined by the learned. The celebrated Bochart, about the year 1640, observed in his elaborate researches into sacred geography that ROS, Ros, is the most ancient form under which history makes mention of the name of RUSSIA; and he contended that the two first of those names properly denote the nations of Russia and Muscovy. 'It is credible,' says he, 'that from Rosh and Mesech (that is the Rhossi and Moschi) of whom Ezekiel speaks, descended the Russians and Muscovites, nations of the greatest celebrity in European-Scythia.' We have indeed ample and positive testimony that the Russian nation was called Ros by the Greeks in the earliest period in which we find it mentioned. Ethnos de oi Ros Schnthichon, peri ton archtoon Towron. 'The Ros are a Scythian nation bordering on the northern Taurus.' This testimony is given by Cedrenus, Zonarus, Leo Grammaticus, and Tzetzes; and their own historians thus report, 'It is related that the Russians (whom the Greeks call Ros, ROS, and sometimes Rosos, Rosos) derived their name from Ros, a valiant man who delivered his nation from the yoke of their tyrants.'" p. 19

John Thomas:
"And thus the three denominations, Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval, united in the prophecy point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions, which, at the present day, we denominate collectively THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE." p. 66

Granville Penn:
"And thus the THREE DENOMINATIONS united in the prophecy point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions, which, at the present day, we denominate collectively THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE." p. 22

John Thomas:
"Since the name of Scythae, or Magog, is to be considered not by itself, but in geographical connection with Galatae, or Gomer, we have only to enquire, whether any geographical affinity is really ascribed by the Greeks to the Scythae and Galatae? and to ascertain to what regions of the earth those names so associated, were applied. If we can discover these two points we ought thereby to have discovered specifically the Magog of the prophecy, which is to be associated with the region, or people, of Gomer." - p. 67

Granville Penn:
"But, since the name of Scythae (i.e. Magog,) is here to be considered, not by itself, but in geographical connection with GALATAE, or GOMER, we have only to enquire, whether any geographical affinity is really ascribed by the Greeks to the Scythae and Galatae? and to ascertain, to what regions of the earth, those names, so associated, were applied. If we can discover these two points, we ought thereby to have discovered specifically the Magogue of the prophecy, which would be able to associate to themselves the region, or people of Gomer." - p. 41.

John Thomas:
"From the Hebrew Scripture we learn that Magog and Gomer were the names of two of the sons of Japhet; and it is to ancient Hebrew authority alone that we can resort to ascertain where, according to the common repute of the Israelites, the nation which descended from those two heads of families, and which long retained the proper names of those heads, were spread and established. Josephus says, 'That Japhet, etc., etc.' [and so on, with a quotation from Josephus, the same as given by G. Penn.] It only therefore remains for us to ascertain which were the nations that the Greeks at the time of Josephus called Scythae, and which they then called Galatae; and to observe whether the geographical affinities of these nations are such as answer to those which are plainly required by the prophecy for Magog and Gomer."

Granville Penn:"We know from the Hebrew Scriptures that these are the names of two sons of Japhet! and it is to ancient Hebrew authority alone that we can resort, to learn where, according to the common repute of the Hebrew people, the nations which descended from those two heads of families, and which long retained the proper names of those heads, were spread and established. Josephus is the earliest Hebrew authority of weight and learning, to which we can address ourselves; and he distinctly informs us, 'That Japhet, etc., etc. [The quotation following being ANATOLIA] Scythae and which they styled Galatae; and to observe whether the geographical affinities of these nations are such as answer to those which are plainly required by the prophecy of Magog and Gomer."

Does that look as if "Anatolia" is "original throughout" as Dr Thomas claimed? I leave you to judge for yourself. Much of the "Anatolia" material was also lifted from "Dissertations on the Prophecies" by Bishop Thomas Newton. For example the paraphrase of Daniel 11 found in Anatolia is very similar to a paraphrase of the same chapter in Newton's work.

Christadelphian brother Alan Eyre has published two excellent books exposing the lie that Dr Thomas "rediscovered The Truth" about Bible teaching. For example in the preface to "The Protestors" one time editor of the Christadelphian magazine brother FT Pearce wrote: "It is a matter of great encouragement to us, whose religious views are regarded as unorthodox by our contemporaries, to find that in a number of cases where major doctrines are concerned, these early believers had come to the same conclusions as ourselves." In his Introduction to the same work brother Alan wrote: "The writer, once naively and unquestioningly accepting a popular view that Dr. John Thomas "discovered", as if from a void, the totality of Bible truth as believed by Christadelphians, was amazed to discover source after source which showed that this was at least a serious misrepresentation"....... "The nineteenth century, however, was one in which few intellectual debts were acknowledged."

So not only do we find that the founder of Christadelphianism stole his ideas about prophetic interpretation from previous writers, but it is evident that his "rediscovery of The Truth" is "at least a serious misrepresentation" as brother Eyre diplomatically words it.

It is simply not true that Dr Thomas arrived in America in 1832 and fulfilled his pledge to God made on the sinking Marquis of Wellesley and rediscovered The Truth by studying his Bible. What actually happened was that he arrived as a young man twenty eight years of age and threw himself with vigour into the American "Restorationism" movement. Wikipedia explains it thus:

"In the United States, Restorationism, sometimes called Christian primitivism, refers to the belief held by various religious movements that pristine or original Christianity should be restored, while usually claiming to be the source of that restoration. Such groups teach that this is necessary because Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians introduced defects into Christian faith and practice, or have lost a vital element of genuine Christianity. Specifically, restorationism applies to the Restoration Movement and numerous other movements that originated in the eastern United States and Canada and grew rapidly in the early and mid 19th century."

Soon after his arrival in America Dr Thomas joined the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement which was one of the most prominent of dozens of different sects all competing to "rediscover The Truth" at that time. They advocated a total return to the faith of the apostolic churches, as found in the New Testament. They took no denominational title, calling themselves only by Scripture names, such as "Disciples", "Brethren", (now you know why you Christadelphians call each other "brethren and sisters) and "Christians". Mr. Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander were prominent advocates of this restoration of apostolic ways. Another leading member of that group was Mr. Walter Scott, whose acquaintance Dr. Thomas made soon after his arrival, the result being that he was baptized by Mr. Scott in 1837. Dr Thomas wrote to Alexander Campbell of his baptism: "I am a Christian, and glory in the name, and am jealous of the honours and privileges and immunities attached to it; so much so that I am not content to share them with the innumerable pretenders to the title in the Protestant and Papal sections of the kingdom of anti-Christ. Bro. W. Scott can testify that I believed the Gospel, and obeyed it before witnesses".

During the course of the next ten years Dr Thomas continued to mix with a wide variety of different sects within the American Restorationism movement including the Millerites who later split and became the Jehovah's Witnesses. Please understand that these different sects believed in a very wide variety of different religious doctrines including all of the doctrines that Dr Thomas later formulated into the Christadelphian religion and they also rejected all of the doctrines that Dr Thomas rejected. You can truly make the Bible prove whatever you want it to prove and those people did exactly that. Every Christian belief and unbelief was promoted at one time or another by one or more of the groups, but not of course all at the same time in one sect. The different sects all competed and fought with each other like cat and dogs and castigated each other in the most virulent of language. Each claimed to hold "The Truth" and accused the others of apostasy and heresy.

After a decade of this madness Dr Thomas selected from this mêlée the beliefs and unbeliefs that suited his particular slant on the scriptures and baptised himself for a second time, saying of his previous baptism and beliefs: "We confess that the whole matter was a mistake, and as such make this public abjuration thereof. ...... Having been immersed into an erroneous system....... I abjure the whole transaction in which I once firmly thought I had once believed the one only true Gospel of Christ".

This was sixteen years after the shipwreck incident. The man that the Christadelphians claim was raised up by God to rediscover the Truth had spent all that time going around in circles trying to discover the Truth. He had only "discovered" the Truth by stitching together different bits and pieces of the American Restorationism movement into something that suited his frame of mind. One hundred and forty years later brother Alan Eyre called it a "serious misrepresentation" to claim that he had rediscovered the Truth and the editor of The Christadelphian magazine agreed with him!

Do you really think that a God who created the entire Universe would let the rediscovery of the Gospel happen in such a crazy mixed up and deceitful way? Where were the angels and the power of the Holy Spirit in all this? Would it not have been helpful for them to have put a bit of effort into reviving the Truth instead of sitting back and watching Dr Thomas run around the American Restorationism movement like a headless chicken getting baptised and re-baptised as he constantly changed his mind about what he believed? How does all this compare to the conversion of Saul/Paul, or the work of John the Baptist or the calling of Peter? It does not compare at all! In my opinion Dr John Thomas the founder of the Christadelphians was a fraud and a liar like any of the current day American TV evangelists who are either inside or outside of jail. To quote the words of Dr Thomas himself: "Pride and ambition were the leading characteristics of my early manhood". - I could not agree more!

But wait - there is more. Soon after Dr Thomas had decided to start his own religion he and his daughter dumped his sick wife Ellen (who was suffering from tuberculosis) in Richmond, Virginia and sailed off to Britain in 1848. He then applied for fellowship at the Church of the Disciples in London which was one of approximately a hundred churches affiliated to the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement in Britain. In other words he joined the very church that he had rejected a few months previously and did not tell them that he had baptised himself into a different religion. He did this because he wanted to tour Britain poaching their members to join his new faith.

Dr Thomas wrote of this: "Having made his arrangements accordingly, I arrived in London, June 28th, 1848; and in July following I received an invitation to visit Nottingham, and to deliver a course of lectures upon the times, in connection with the prophetic word. The interest created during his short stay was great and encouraging, and became the occasion of invitation to visit other towns and cities also. During this tour I visited Derby, Belper, Lincoln, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Paisley, and addressed thousands of the people. who heard me gladly". - No mention of the fact that he was masquerading as a member of the Church of the Disciples in order to convert their members to Christadelphianism. In his defence Dr Thomas claimed that he had only rejected many of the doctrines of the Church of the Disciples and not the Church itself. This was doublespeak to hide the fact that he was blatantly lying to them.

One of the Disciples wrote in a magazine at the time:

“We have heard through the medium of some of the Second Advent proclaimers that Mr. John Thomas, M.D., from Richmond, Virginia, is on his way to England, if he has not already landed. We feel justified in stating to the brethren, and to our readers, that Mr. Thomas, in his magazine, some time ago, publicly abjured all connection with the Churches of the Reformation in the United States, more especially with brother Campbell and his associates. He not only renounced what he had learned from them, but also what he taught whilst among them, as being altogether erroneous. He has also been re-baptised, or baptised for the first time, into what he calls the hope of Israel; so that he has discovered not only that the baptism of all others of our brethren is faulty, but that his own also which he received some years ago from the hands of brother Walter Scott, and for which he has pleaded so strenuously, has no foundation in truth.”

For a fuller account of how Dr Thomas attempted to trick his way back into the Disciples Church in London see "Dr Thomas his life and work" by Robert Roberts Chapter 31.

This action caused a row with the elders of the Church of the Disciples who later threw Dr Thomas out of their fellowship but not before he had caused numerous splits amongst their own churches. These splinter groups formed much of the core of the new Christadelphian religion being formed by Dr Thomas and Robert Roberts. One of the elders of the Church of the disciples later commented about this subterfuge: "Thus we were deceived by the founder of Christadelphianism, in order to aid its introduction into churches in this country". Brother Robert Roberts who was aware of all this, wrote of Dr Thomas in his biography: "The part of friends has been rather to hide than expose infirmity. Gratitude threw the ample fold of protection over what may have been deemed the faults of an otherwise great and noble and extraordinary character." In other words he covered up the lies of Dr Thomas. One wonders what else was concealed by Robert Roberts.

Contrary to Christadelphian myth, Dr Thomas continued to evolve his new religion after the publication of Elpis Israel. That book was primarily devoted to the exposition of Bible prophecy and much of the detail relating to doctrine was skipped over. The changing views of its founder caused many splinters and splits within the new group. For example when Dr Thomas stated that the saints would be raised in mortal bodies at the resurrection, a breakaway group that he called "The Dowieties" formed in Britain and another group in America whom he named "Benjamites" - presumably after the leaders of the groups. They started a magazine called "The Gospel Banner" and in Sep 1867 they complained in their magazine about the nasty-minded manner in which Dr Thomas reviled them. To give you a flavour of the unpleasant character of the founder of the Christadelphians, here are some of his words that they quoted:

"We have a great many speculators in the faith on this side of the Atlantic, who profess to be the Ecclesia, mere theorists, who are a sort of amalgam, made up of a little Storrism, a little Adventism, a little Campbellism, and a hodge-podge of traditions, of which water, pork, alcohol, tobacco, salt, leaven, raisins, and the everlasting nigger, are the prolific head-centers." ... "They would rather be notorious for abomination than not notorious at all." ... "The Benjamin Mark Paper is a truly blood-thirsty and diabolical sheet." ... "His own selfishness has been the god of his idolatry; and to gratify this such a man will slander, lie, steal, or play the hypocrite, if it will only pay." ... "They have thought that their new paper might be their old, dirty, and blood-thirsty banner, new revised ... for editing at other people's risk, little Ben has discovered, pays better than printing on his own hook." ... These dishonest, mean-spirited traitors to good faith sought excuse and justification in the devil's law of incorporation." ... "I have put you in possession of these details that the real friends in Britain may know by what sort of natural brute beasts I am assisted." ... "I have hitherto taken no notice of him, nor his confederate, the ex-theatrical candle snuffer, being too much occupied with the Apocalypse." ... "We Christadelphians in America are a distinct generation from the so-called Benjamites - we are strong in the faith and unspoiled by accursed crotchets, which, when blended with it, make it ineffectual and generative of knaves and hypocrites."

This sort of disgusting language is sprinkled liberally throughout Dr Thomas's works, causing in the year 2000 the then editor of the Christadelphian magazine to write this note in a new edition of Elpis Israel: "At the time when it was written, frank speech expressed in robust language was indulged in without offence, and in this matter the book reflects its age. The forthrightness of the writer is seen in the vigour of his words and modern readers must make some allowance for this".

I can think of no better way to persuade Christadelphians to leave their religion, or to dissuade others from joining than by encouraging them to read the book in its entirety. It is bad tempered rambling nonsense from start to finish. Dr Thomas even claims that the Earth was inhabited by a race of alien angels before Adam and other rubbish that would cause modern day Christadelphians to cringe if they ever read it.

Let us continue to consider the writings of Doctor Thomas in this quotation from "Elpis Israel":

"The Judgment upon Ireland has been sitting since 1786. That crisis was the beginning of a retribution of seventy-five years. This period is called 'THE END' ......... After 1864 Ireland and the rest of the world will enter upon a new era, in which peace, righteousness, and blessedness will reign in the midst of the nations."

Not only did Christ not return in 1864 but Sinn Féin and later the IRA wrought terrorism and havoc in Ireland and the British mainland for over a hundred years after 1864.

Or this from Dr Thomas:

"My conviction is that the judgment upon Babylon will be announced as about to set; and that the ancient of days and the saints will meet in the air and among the clouds, in the common A.D. 1866, or 1290 years from A.D. 606."

This from Dr Thomas in "Anatolia":

"My conviction is that the judgment upon Babylon will be announced as about to set; and that the ancient of days and the saints will meet in the air and among the clouds, in the common A.D. 1866, or 1290 years from A.D. 606." ............... "But in a few years, that is, about 1866, when the 1335 years terminate, he will 'arise to his inheritance' in the Kingdom of God". ............. "How highly important is this exhortation now, seeing that in about a dozen years the resurrection will have transpired, and no further invitation to inherit it be presented to the world. The glory that shall follow is great for the approved (the Christadelphians). The world is theirs, when all nations come and do homage before the Prince of Israel, because His judgments are made manifest. But before they can have 'power over the nations,' they must bind the strong that rule them. This is their mission at the end of the 1335 years: 'To execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishment upon the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written; this honour have all his saints.' From A.D. 1866 to A.D. 1911, a period of over forty years, they will be engaged in this work and in the organizing the world upon new and better principles."

Not only did Dr Thomas erroneously and repeatedly state that Christ would return in 1866 but he also said that "the approved" (Christadelphians) would execute vengeance on the nations for forty years up until 1911.

Elsewhere Dr Thomas elaborates in detail how his immortal immoral Christadelphians will steal and plunder from the mortal population of the world:

"The estates of all the misers of this present evil world will be turned to righteous and beneficent account by and bye, in the hands of Jesus and His brethren. Only when that time comes they won't have to wait the death of the misers. They will take possession, and turn the owners adrift, in most cases into the grave." ... "All the earth will learn at the cost of much blood and treasure......"

This from Dr Thomas writing in "Elpis Israel":

"The sword only, can prepare the way for this. Mankind must be made to lick the dust like a serpent, before they will consent to change their creeds for eternal truth. Judgment will bring them to reason"............. "Nothing but violence in the beginning, in order to punish and crush the tyrants, can prepare the way for the amelioration of society. This is the order, as I shall show, which God has ordained as preliminary to the setting up of His kingdom."

This from Robert Roberts the first editor of the Christadelphian magazine and close friend of Dr Thomas:

"He (Christ) will enter into conflict with the world, drive Gentile power from every throne, and establish His kingdom under the whole heaven. Christadelphian operations will then be transferred from the arena of debate to that of military coercion."

More detail of this Christadelphian instigated genocide is given by Robert Roberts in Christendom Astray lecture 15:

"God Himself will operate in visible judgment upon the nations of the earth.......... a divine manifestation in the person of the Son of Man accompanied by sweeping judgments of fire and sword which will destroy large masses of mankind.......... The vengeance in relation to mankind will be destruction to the majority, and discipline to the remnant. Multitudes will perish by war and pestilence; multitudes more will fall victims to the fire which will descend............... The earth's population will be greatly thinned; its reprobate elements expurgated, leaving a residue composed of the meek and submissive, and well–disposed of mankind, who will constitute the willing subjects of Messiah's kingdom........ The saints co–operate with Christ in executing the judgments written. ...........It will be their privilege "to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people.......Thus it is obvious that in the closing judgment–scenes of this dispensation, the saints will be associated with the Lord Jesus in destroying the political, ecclesiastical, and social systems.............. This is a work of devastation ................ will involve much destruction of life, ....... Widespread will be the desolations produced; bloody and scathing the judgments ministered at the hands of Jesus and the saints. (Christadelphians)"

The corruption of the various American TV evangelists who are currently languishing in US jails is eclipsed by the evil that the founders of Christadelphianism proposed to unleash on the World. They were planning to kill and maim millions, perhaps billions of humanity in a forty year Holy Spirit empowered orgy of death and violence ending in 1911. The one hundred million deaths in the two World wars and the work of Hitler and Stalin seem tame by comparison with what Dr Thomas and Robert Roberts were planning. In their paranoia they imagined that the result of this great work would be to "Leave a residue composed of the meek and submissive, and well–disposed of mankind, who will constitute the willing subjects of Messiah's kingdom". - What planet were they on? Did they really think that such a plan would succeed? A reign of terror more horrific than The Great Terror of the French revolution, worse than the purges of Stalinist Russia, more brutal that Hitler's Final Solution, more awful than the Killing Fields of Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge reign of death? What would the relatives of those who were killed think about Christ's Christadelphian Kingdom? They would NEVER forgive the Christadelphians and their leaders for inflicting such pain and suffering on the world.

Little wonder that the nations were predicted to rise up at the end of the millennium in one final act of rebellion against Christ. It would be the equivalent of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rising up against their Nazi tormentors and murderers in a last but futile gesture of defiance and desperation against their evil rulers.

But of course none of this will ever happen. Dr Thomas was 100% wrong about Christ returning in 1886. He was wrong about Ireland, he was wrong about the Christadelphian forty year reign of terror, he was wrong about the Kingdom and he was wrong about everything else. I again urge you to read Elpis Israel. Practically everything that the doctor predicted in that book did NOT come true. Moreover it is obvious that the events that he foretold that did happen were merely the result of coincidence. Even Christadelphians who read the book and see the endless detail about events in the Nineteenth Century, which Dr Thomas called "The Last Days", must surely realise that the Bible could not possibly have been so obsessed with Nineteenth Century history and then completely miss out all of the next century without a word!

The modern day TV evangelist tricksters daily predict that we are in the "End Times" and that the return of Christ is imminent. They have no more idea what is going on than Doctor John Thomas. They are continuing the long tradition of American Revisionists and snake oil salesmen of which the founder of the Christadelphians was but a minor participant. We are continuing the long tradition of the naive and gullible who buy the books, purchase the snake oil, submit to baptism and put money on the collection plates. We think that we are so smart being able to throw Bible verses around to prove our case and to defend our position. Everyone else in all of the other denominations thinks exactly the same way. We think that they are mistaken while they think that we are mistaken. No one has the brains to realise that this all proves only one thing - that we are ALL mistaken.

It must be obvious that this man that the Christadelphians claim was raised up by God to rediscover the Truth was clueless when it came to interpreting Bible prophecy correctly. But again I ask - what did God think that he was doing as he watched all this insanity unfold? Was it too much to ask that he use the Holy Spirit to nudge Dr Thomas in the right direction so that his chosen people would not be led completely up the garden path by erroneous teaching?

And as we now know how brainless, paranoid and psychopathic Dr Thomas and Robert Roberts were when it came to expounding Bible prophecy, what assurance can we have that their writings about other Biblical matters were any more correct than their mistaken ramblings about Bible prophecy? What is the difference? The difference is that we can prove by the passage of time that Dr Thomas was unable to expound Bible prophecy but we can't prove that he was mistaken about the doctrinal matters. We have to hope that he was as accurate about expounding the Gospel as he was inaccurate about expounding Bible prophecy.

But what guarantee do we have that Dr Thomas selected exactly the right mix of the many thousands of different beliefs and unbeliefs doing the rounds of the Nineteenth Century American Restorationism movement in order to rediscover the Truth? You really can make the Bible prove whatever you want it to prove and then dig your heels in and defend your position. But the same can be done with thousands of other beliefs about the Bible, many of them completely contradictory to each other. Don't kid yourself that you are smart enough to spot the genuine article amongst the thousands of flaws. And what if all those beliefs are flaws? What if there is no genuine article? Do you have the nerve to shout "A plague on all your houses" to the different peddlers of Christianity and to turn around and walk away?

That’s exactly what I did and it was the best decision of my entire life. Leaving the Christadelphians meant leaving a tyranny of lies, deception and fraud. If you are a Christadelphian and you genuinely seek “The Truth” I recommend that your first step to discovering truth is to write a letter of resignation to the Arranging Brethren of your Ecclesia. Free your mind from Christadelphian subterfuge and seek genuine truth wherever it may be found.

John Bedson
Melbourne Australia
bedson@pacific.net.au

Resurrection Debunked

2010-10-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

The “Evidence” for Jesus’ Resurrection, Debunked in One Page

by Chris Hallquist

Among Evangelical Christians, it’s become popular to claim that Jesus’ resurrection can be proved with historical evidence. This is nonsense. Here’s why:

1. There is no evidence for the resurrection outside the Bible. Non-Christian historical references to Jesus don’t occur until about six decades after the time when Biblical scholars think he probably died. When these non-Christian sources refer to Jesus’ miracles, there’s no reason to see them as anything more than a report of what Christians of the time believed.

2. There is little evidence that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or based directly on eyewitness accounts. Most of what the Bible says about Jesus’ life and supposed resurrection is in the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, (a.k.a. the Gospels). But Biblical scholars now agree these books were originally anonymous, their names added later. The traditional Christian claims about who wrote them is now widely doubted by scholars.

3. This means that the Gospels can’t be trusted as evidence for miracles. Imagine someone trying to convert you to another religion based on the “proof” of the miracles worked by the religion’s founder... in the form of a handful of anonymous tracts recounting his life. Would you accept that “proof”? Of course not. Among other things, the stories could just be legends.

4.One of Paul’s letters provides evidence that a number of people claimed Jesus had appeared to them after his death. But this isn’t proof of a miracle. The passage is 1st Corinthians 15:3-9, and most Biblical scholars agree it was really written by Paul. But again, would you accept similar evidence in favor of another religion’s miracles? The Mormon church has statements signed by several people attesting to miracles that are supposed to confirm the truth of the Book of the Mormon, but you probably won’t convert to Mormonism based on that. Also, Paul doesn’t tell us how he knows about all these appearances, so we can’t be confident his report is accurate.

5. Reports that Jesus’ disciples were martyred prove nothing. Reports of the martyrdom of Jesus' disciples do not occur in this historical record until long after their deaths would have occurred, and accounts sometimes conflict with one another. It could be that most, even all, of these stories are legends. In any case, not only do people sometimes give up their lives for delusions, even outright charlatans have been killed for their claims. Joseph Smith was probably a charlatan, but he died at the hands of a lynch mob. So we can’t rule out deception among Jesus’ followers.

6. Claims that this or that individual couldn’t possibly have hallucinated are nonsense. Even apparently sane people hallucinate for a wide variety of reasons and under a wide variety of circumstances. We can’t rule this out for people who claimed to have seen the risen Jesus.

7. Even if there were several people in Paul’s day who would have claimed to have all seen the risen Jesus at the same time, their testimony might not have stood up to scrutiny. There have been cases where a group of children have claimed to see the Virgin Mary, and been taken seriously by adults who should have known better. In many of these cases, the children were questioned individually and their descriptions of what they saw didn’t match, suggesting deception or delusion.

8. That’s it. Part of me thinks that what I’ve said in this one page is all that needs to be said on the subject. But if you want to know how I back up these claims, you can get my book UFOs, Ghosts, and a Rising God: Debunking the Resurrection of Jesus. The book also includes a crash course in New Testament scholarship, discussions of faith healing and Biblical prophecy, and plenty of tidbits about the strange beliefs people have had throughout history. It’s available on Amazon, and there’s more information, including links to reviews, on my website, UncredibleHallq.net.

The Last Days Were At Hand

2010-09-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

From the time John the Baptist preached that the time was at hand (meaning very soon) to Peter saying "the end of all things is at hand" and Jesus promising his return in "this generation" of 2,000 years ago, things have continued as if they never had said those things.

It can't be emphasized enough that the whole New Testament is one big failed prophecy of the soon return of Jesus and the immediate arrival of judgment day. It didn't happen - get over it.

That some of the doomsayers, like Christadelphians, claim that God just felt sorry for us and is just giving us a little longer to repent because of an imagined 1st century apostasy means nothing but an excuse for continuing to be stupid. I mean, it has been 2,000 years, give-me-a-break!

Yes, it's very popular nowadays to claim that God has postponed judgment day indefinitely - just any old excuse to keep the cults up and running, I suppose.

Casting Pearls

2010-09-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

In a discussion about the change in thinking of certain modern theologians in the Bible Truth Discussion Forum we have these pearls.

Ken Gilmore: This of course leaves me to wonder whether a Unitarian Christology similar to ours will eventually emerge among a minority of academic evangelicals. NT Wright's views on the afterlife hint that significant change is possible. To paraphrase, Robert Jastrow, "At this moment it seems as theology will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of the Bible. For the theologian who has lives by his faith in the Westminster Confession, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of Christadelphians who have been sitting there for decades."

Fortigurn: Modern Christians hark back to the historic peace churches such as the Quakers and Mennonites when seeking evidence that Christianity has not always been in support of slavery, and to make the argument that not all Christians 'got it wrong'. One day we will be one of the denominations used by contemporary Christians to demonstrate that not all Christians 'got it wrong' over the state of the dead, the atonement, Satan and demons, and the identity of Christ. It's reassuring to know that we're a significant part of a Christian tradition which will one day be lauded rather than vilified. Incredible as it may seem, some Christadelphians are unhappy about this, and don't want to know about the churches changing their beliefs and becoming more aligned with ours.

Check it out here

Did anyone else interprete that the same way as I did?

Un-Writing the Bible: Enoch's Son of Man and Jesus

2010-08-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

Part 3:

The Son of Man in the book of Enoch appears to be more than just a Jewish Messiah but more like a pre-existent spirit being who reigns on his "throne of glory" in heaven. That then brings us to chapter 45 where "the Elect One" sits on a throne of glory that is apparently on the earth:

3In that day shall the Elect One sit upon a throne of glory; and shall choose their conditions and countless habitations, while their spirits within them shall be strengthened, when they behold my Elect One, for those who have fled for protection to my holy and glorious name.
4In that day I will cause my Elect One to dwell in the midst of them; will change the face of heaven; will bless it, and illuminate it for ever.

Then, in chapter 46 the Elect One is shown to be "The Son of Man":

1There I beheld the Ancient of days, whose head was like white wool, and with him another, whose countenance resembled that of man. His countenance was full of grace, like that of one of the holy angels. Then I inquired of one of the angels, who went with me, and who showed me every secret thing, concerning this Son of man; who he was; whence he was and why he accompanied the Ancient of days.

2He answered and said to me, This is the Son of man, to whom righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has dwelt; and who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed: for the Lord of spirits has chosen him; and his portion has surpassed all before the Lord of spirits in everlasting uprightness.

I notice that this son of man only resembles a man, does that mean that he is not really a man but only appears to be a man like in the doctrine of the Docetists about Jesus?

The Son of Man is also going to reveal things that were concealed, which is similar to what Jesus said:

Luk 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

Most of the time Jesus calls himself "the Son of Man" but sometimes he speaks of the son of man in the third person:

Luk 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Anyway, I notice that the Son of Man in the book of Enoch is also "full of grace" just like Jesus is said to be.

Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1 has convinced many Christians that Jesus was also pre-existent, just like the Son of Man in the book of Enoch.

Also, many of Jesus' words about the Son of Man sound as if he is actually a heavenly deity with supernatural powers and heavenly authority, just as the Son of Man in the book of Enoch - Matt. 9:6; 12:8; 12:32; 13:41; 25:31, just to mention a few.

Un-Writing the Bible: Enoch's Son of Man and Jesus

2010-08-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Part 2:

The Book of Enoch:

The elect shall possess light, joy, and peace; and they shall inherit the earth. (6:9)

The words of Jesus:

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (Matt. 5:5)

From where I left off in the Book of Enoch in part 1, it goes on to describe the fallen angels when there really are no fallen angels in the Old Testament. In Genesis, before the flood, "the sons of God" represent the followers and/or descendants of Seth and the "daughters of men" represent the descendants of Cain. The actual sin committed was marrying outside of the faith, which was still condemned under the law of Moses and even in the New Testament.

When some Christian read about the "giants in the earth" from this intermarriage they see actual giants and that Christian idea may, in fact, come from the book of Enoch, which describes the fallen ones as being 300 cubits tall.

The giants, however, are really just tyrants (the KJV mistranslates the word). The actual tyrants are known to historians as priest/kings - they were the men in ancient times who founded kingdoms and claimed territory. They filled both the offices of king and priest in order to claim territory as being given to them by their god - the same way Abraham's descendants claimed Canaan - God gave it to Abraham and his descendants. That's where the Israelites get the authority to claim it and commit genocide over it in the OT.

Angels are supposed to be spirit beings - they could not have sex with humans. Even Jesus says that angels are sexless when he said that they "neither marry nor are they given in marriage". So, where does this idea of fallen angels come from in the new testament writings, i.e., demons and such. And, if they are bound in chains in darkness, how is it they are running around tempting people to sin? See 2 Pet. 2:4 and Jude 1:6 which comes straight out of the book of Enoch in the chapters following where I left off in part 1. So, we see that both 2 Peter and Jude quote things from 1Enoch as if it is sacred scripture.

Un-Writing the Bible: Enoch's Son of Man and Jesus

2010-07-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

Part I of a planned series.

Found among the Dead Sea scrolls are 7 fragments of a pre-Christian era book known as the Book of Enoch. This book of Enoch is directly quoted in the New Testament:

Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him. (chapter 2.1)

Quoted by Jude, vss. 14, 15 - Proving the early Christian knowledge of the book of Enoch.

This book is also included in the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which proves that some Christians have thought of the book of Enoch as sacred scripture.

My intention with this series is to go through the book of 1 Enoch and show, if not downright prove, where it was used to invent the New Testament and Jesus as "the Son of Man" written about in that book. Starting out, I don't know how successful I will be in proving that but you may follow along in the book of Enoch at this link: http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/enoch.html

Why God Doesn't Heal Amputees

2010-06-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Both science and common sense long ago concluded that severed limbs don't regenerate in human beings. Science can account for this and may some day be able to overcome it.

However, if one believes in miracles, it's an absolute contradiction to rule out the regeneration of a severed limb. That would be no more a miracle than the cancer cures that are claimed all the time.

Praying for a limb to grow back is something a little more tangible; it's easier to pray for something that has a reasonable possibility of happening, by chance or by work, rather than something that the Christians know won't happen.

The fact that no one prays for a severed limb to regrow is proof that underneath all the posturing and pretense of faith, some rationality has survived. People don't even dare to pray for the regrowth of a severed limb because they know it's impossible.

Superstition

2010-06-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

"What harm does superstition do? What harm in believing in fables, in legends?

To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets, charms and miracles, in gods and devils, in heavens and hells, makes the brain an insane ward, the world a madhouse, takes all certainty from the mind, makes experience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect and cause -- the unity of nature -- and makes man a trembling serf and slave. With this belief a knowledge of nature sheds no light upon the path to be pursued.

Nature becomes a puppet of the unseen powers. The fairy, called the supernatural, touches with her wand a fact, it disappears. Causes are barren of effects, and effects are independent of all natural causes. Caprice is king.

The foundation is gone. The great dome rests on air. There is no constancy in qualities, relations or results. Reason abdicates and superstition wears her crown. The heart hardens and the brain softens. The energies of man are wasted in a vain effort to secure the protection of the supernatural.

Credulity, ceremony, worship, sacrifice and prayer take the place of honest work, of investigation, of intellectual effort, of observation, of experience. Progress becomes impossible.

Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the enemy of liberty.

Superstition created all the gods and angels, all the devils and ghosts, all the witches, demons and goblins, gave us all the augurs, soothsayers and prophets, filled the heavens with signs and wonders, broke the chain of cause and effect, and wrote the history of man in miracles and lies.

Superstition made all the popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, all the monks and nuns, the begging friars and the filthy saints, all the preachers and exhorters, all the "called" and "set apart."

Superstition made men fall upon their knees before beasts and stones, caused them to worship snakes and trees and insane phantoms of the air, beguiled them of their gold and toil, and made them shed their children's blood and give their babes to flames.

Superstition built the cathedrals and temples, all the altars, mosques and churches, filled the world with amulets and charms, with images and idols, with sacred bones and holy hairs, with martyrs' blood and rags, with bits of wood that frighten devils from the breasts of men.

Superstition invented and used the instruments of torture, flayed men and women alive, loaded millions with chains and destroyed hundreds of thousands with fire.

Superstition mistook insanity for inspiration and the ravings of maniacs for prophesy, for the wisdom of God.

Superstition imprisoned the virtuous, tortured the thoughtful, killed the heroic, put chains on the body, manacles on the brain, and utterly destroyed the liberty of speech.

Superstition gave us all the prayers and ceremonies; taught all the kneelings, genuflections and prostrations; taught men to hate themselves, to despise pleasure, to scar their flesh, to grovel in the dust, to desert their wives and children, to shun their fellow-men, and to spend their lives in useless pain and prayer.

Superstition taught that human love is degrading, low and vile; taught that monks are purer than fathers, that nuns are holier than mothers, that faith is superior to fact, that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road to hell, that belief is better than knowledge, and that to ask for evidence is to insult God.

Superstition is, always has been, and forever will be, the foe of progress, the enemy of education and the assassin of freedom. It sacrifices the known to the unknown, the present to the future, this actual world to the shadowy next. It has given us a selfish heaven, and a hell of infinite revenge; it has filled the world with hatred, war and crime, with the malice of meekness and the arrogance of humility.

Superstition is the only enemy of science in all the world."

Superstition, Robert Green Ingersoll, 1898.

Christian Reasoning

2010-04-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Imminent Return of Christ

2010-03-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

Many Christians expect the return of Christ at any time today and his return has been Imminent ever since the pre-millennialism movements circa 1830. William Miller of the Millerite movement had Jesus returning and the end of the present age date set as 1844. Since that time many dates have been set but, alas, no return and no thousand-year reign on the earth has begun.

The New Testament writers are clear about the "soon" return of Christ over 1,900 years ago. Read what they have to say:

When John the Baptist began to preach, he warned everybody to repent because the kingdom of heaven was near (Matt. 3:2). When the people and their leaders came out to see John, he emphatically told them that the Day of Judgment was not far away (Matt. 3:7-12; Luke 3:7-9, 16-17).

After John the Baptist had been imprisoned, Jesus continued to preach repentance. The reason was the same -- the time had come and the kingdom was near (Mark 1:14-15).

When Jesus sent out the Twelve to the people of Israel, they were instructed to preach that the kingdom was near. He warned them that they would be persecuted because of Him. However, Jesus assured them that they would not run out of cities to flee to before He returned (Matt. 10:5-7, 22-23).

When Jesus dined with the Pharisees, He told them that it would be their generation that would be held accountable for all the righteous blood that had been shed on the earth (Luke 11:37, 50-51).

Near the end of His ministry, Jesus told His disciples that if anyone from their adulterous and sinful generation were to deny Him, upon His coming in the Father's glory with the angels, He would reward each one of them for what they had done by also denying them. Then, He flatly stated that some of the disciples to whom He was speaking would not die before they saw Him coming in His kingdom (Matt. 16:27-28; Mark. 8:38-9:1).

When Jesus pronounced His seven woes upon the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, He again stated that their generation would be the one responsible for all the righteous blood that had been shed on the earth (Matt. 23:35-36).

In His Olivet Discourse, Jesus explained to His disciples that their generation would not pass away before it had witnessed the Apostasy, the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world, the end of the age, the desolation of their temple, the overthrow of their nation, the coming of the Son of Man, and the Day of Judgment. He told them that they needed to watch and pray so that they could escape all the things that were about to transpire (Matt. 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21:5-36).

At His trial, Jesus told the High Priest that he would see the day when the Son of Man would be sitting at the right hand of the Father and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62).

Following His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus spoke to the apostle Peter about his own death. When Peter asked how the apostle John would die, Jesus implied that John might not die until He returned. Afterward, John wrote that some of the brothers believed Jesus had said that he would never die, but John countered by indicating that Jesus had only said that he might live until the Second Coming (John 21:18-23).

On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people that the fulfillment of the prophet Joel's words had come. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was an undeniable sign that they were in the last days and that the manifestation of the Day of the Lord was not far away. Peter begged the people to save themselves from their corrupt generation. Some understood the urgency of Peter's words and in response were baptized (Acts 2:1, 16-20, 40-41).

Years later when he wrote to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul indicated that some believers might still be alive to witness the Second Coming (1 Thess. 4:15ff).

Paul told the Corinthians that there was not much time left and that the world in its present form was currently passing away (1 Cor. 7:29, 31). He informed them that the fulfillment of the ages had arrived (1 Cor. 10:11). Later, he said that not all of them would die before the resurrection had occurred (1 Cor. 15:51ff).

When Paul wrote to the Romans, he advised them that the hour had come for them to realize that their salvation was much sooner than originally expected (Rom. 13:11). Then, he told them that it would not be long before God crushed Satan under their feet (Rom. 16:20).

James instructed the people to be patient until the coming of the Lord. Next, he stated that Jesus and the Judgment were coming soon (James 5:7-9).

Paul informed the Philippians that the Lord's coming was near (Php. 4:5).

The author of Hebrews wrote that the Old Covenant was in the process of passing away and that it would shortly be abolished (Heb. 8:13). The regulations of the covenant were only to be applicable until the new order had arrived (Heb. 9:10). The author further informed the Hebrews that when Jesus entered into heaven it had occurred at the end of the ages (Heb. 9:26). The Hebrews were encouraged to meet with each other more often as they saw the Day of the Lord getting nearer. They were then told that the time was very short and that the coming of the Lord would occur without delay (Heb. 10:25, 37).

The apostle Peter told the people that it was the last times and their salvation was ready to be revealed (1 Pet. 1:5). He also informed them that the Lord had been manifested in those same last times for their sake (1 Pet. 1:20). In addition, he said that the Lord was ready to judge the living and the dead and that the end of all things was near (1 Pet. 4:5, 7).

Paul suggested that Timothy might still be alive at the Second Coming when he charged him to remain faithful until that time came (1 Tim. 6:12-14).

Jude warned the people that godless men had slipped in among them. Then, he reminded them that they were in the last times and their situation was just as the Apostles had foretold would happen (Jude 4, 18).

The apostle John told the people that the darkness was passing and the true light was already shinning (1 John 2:8). Afterward, he stated that the world and its desires were currently passing away (1 John 2:17). He told them that many antichrists had come. He then said that their presence was a clear indication that it was the last hour (1 John 2:18).

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John wrote that the events, which were being disclosed, were going to happen soon. He then stated that those who heard, read and took the prophecy to heart would be blessed because the time was near (Rev. 1:1, 3).

When Jesus addressed the church in Ephesus, He warned them that if they did not repent He would come to them very soon and remove their church from its place (Rev. 2:5). He told the church in Pergamum that they also needed to repent. If they did not, He said that He would quickly come back and bring judgment upon them (Rev. 2:16). To the church in Thyatira, Jesus advised them to hold on to what they had until He returned (Rev. 2:25). Jesus exhorted the church in Sardis to wake up or He would come like a thief and they would not know when He was going to come to them (Rev. 3:3). The church in Philadelphia was commended for their endurance. As a consequence, Jesus told them that He would keep them from the hour of trial that was about to occur. He then declared that He was going to come back soon (Rev. 3:10-11). In his message to the church in Laodicia, Jesus stated that He was about to judge them for their lukewarmness and that they should be zealous and repent (Rev. 3:16, 19).

At the end of the book, John was told that the things, which had just been revealed, would soon take place (Rev. 22:6). Following that, Jesus announced that He was coming soon and that those who kept the words of the prophecy would be blessed (Rev. 22:7). Afterward, John was instructed not to seal up the book because the time was near (Rev. 22:10). Jesus again proclaimed that He was coming soon. He then added that His reward was with Him and He would give to everybody according to what they had done (Rev. 22:12). Jesus closed by once more declaring that He would come back soon (Rev. 22:20).

Without a doubt, the smell of imminence was in the air. These passages prove it. Jesus said He was going to come back soon, before His contemporaries had all died off. He did not say that He would return anytime over a period of two thousand years or more. He said soon! All the authors of the New Testament wrote and preached the same thing. Any eschatological approach that claims otherwise, not only brings the consistency of the New Testament into question, but also ultimately calls Jesus and the New Testament writers liars. If they were merely mistaken then they spoke presumptuously and should not be listened to or fear anything they have said, according to the Law: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:22).

Calling For WCG/GCI Financial Accountability

2010-01-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

In a series of calling for financial disclosure and accountability, Purplehymnal's Weblog has published some interesting information in a series entitled "Say Goodnight Gracie" - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

If WCG/GCI's Joseph Tkach Jr. has nothing to hide, why all the financial secrecy? It seems that the finances of the church have been secret ever since Herbert W. Armstrong was the owner/operator of the WCG.

You would think that the members of the church would know where the money goes, but no, not even the members know. Of course, that means that the members of the church are not really members of the church at all or else they would know.

I think they should at least ask their Pastors why they are not members of the church that they were baptised into and to which they pay tithes and give offerings. Are the members not the church? I don't think so, not in the case of WCG/GCI anyway.

If I were a member of a church, I think I would choose one that would allow me to actually be a member and not keep secrets from me about the financial matters of that church.

Oh well, such is the world of Armstrongism.

The God-Man

2010-01-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

The mistake that Christendom makes is assuming that the writers of the NT books knew any more about God than preachers do today. Toss a story and a rumor around about a dead leader for about 40 years before anyone writes the story down and there's no telling what the original story and rumor was.

Assuming that the words of the rumor spreaders are God-breathed is another mistake.

The more likely story is that Jesus was a Jewish itinerant preacher going around preaching that God would restore the kingdom to Israel - soon. He ran afoul of the authorities and got himself crucified.

To add insult to injury, his grieving followers discovered his body missing from his temporary tomb. What was his followers to do, since the authorities were hunting for them for sedition too?

They scatter, that's what they do. Then lo and behold, one of them claims to have seen the leader alive and that gets the ball rolling on a resurrection story because, not to be outdone, others start claiming to have seen him alive again also.

Then all kinds of things get invented about the leader; miracles, virgin birth, ascension to heaven, holy spirit possession etc. Eventually, the leader becomes God himself and part of a Trinity.

And, here we are today, with people seriously discussing the nonsensical rumor of a god-man as if it were all true.

Christadelphia and Evolution

2010-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Over at the Christadelphian "Bible Truth Discussion Forum", BTDF for short, the battle is raging once again over the theory of evolution. There seems to be, to my surprise, some Christadelpians who are educated enough to accept evolutionary biology and the facts of evolution, such as common descent.

The problem arises from how to reconcile evolution with the Bible and Genesis in particular. Therefore, most Christadelphians will probably choose to believe the literal reading of Genesis and ignore the scientific facts.

The real answer is rather obvious: That the science is correct and the Bible is wrong. However, history proves that Christians will fight against any truth that contradicts the literal reading of the Bible and we need not go any further than Galileo and Bruno to prove it.

Science is based on facts in evidence and the Bible is based on beliefs with no evidence. Scientific theory is falsifiable by testing, religion is not falsifiable.

I remember people saying that we couldn't fly to the moon because of the canopy of water above the earth - yes, that's right, the blue you see up there above your head is water, a canopy of water over the earth, from which God flooded the world in the days of Noah. Hey, but we got a pretty rainbow out of that deal, didn't we?

GCI is Not a Member of the ECFA

2010-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official WCG/GCI is not a member of the ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). Grace Communion International is currently a member of the National Association of Evangelicals so, why aren't they a member of the ECFA?

What are they hiding? Or, should I ask, how much are they hiding?

Repent!

2009-12-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Adam sinned and condemned us all to death (huh?) or so the story goes. And here we are now, all condemned and everything and our righteousness is as filthy rags and we are all blind, miserable, poor and naked (spiritually, that is) and the only thing to do is repent and get fixed - 'cause we're broken, you see? And it's all Adam's fault . . . or Eve's - one of 'em anyway - because of eating a magical fruit from a magical tree in a magical garden that doesn't exist.

Anyway though, have you ever noticed that those who go to church, get converted and study the Bible day and night to "get fixed" are the most hateful people in the world?

I noticed, and that's why I started my new blog, The Failure of Christianity. I want to show that the Christian religion is a monster, not just an ordinary murderous monster (which it is) but the most evil, monstrous thing ever invented by humans (which it is).

Since its very beginning there was the infighting between the apostle over circumcision and the law of Moses. This humble, pious beginning escalated into wars between nations and has not yet ceased to satiate its appetite for blood.

The idea that Jesus is going to return and make peace at long last is not what is said in the Christian's holy word - "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus". (2 Thess 1:7-8)

No, Jesus is to return and cause war and destroy and inflict plagues on all the world, killing nearly everyone in the most horrible ways according to the book of Revelation.

But, that's nothing new, there are plenty of examples of God ordained murder and genocide in the Old Testament.

Therefore, I believe it is the Christian who needs to repent and "get fixed", because they are the ones who are broken, not the ones on whom they wish God's wrath to fall. After all, the magical tree and the magical serpent and the magical garden never even existed, and just think of all the millions who have died (been tortured and murdered) because of ignorant people believing that old Mesopotamian myth of Adapa.

Fred Said

2009-12-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

Corky, please leave the blog up!

That's the whole point about social knowledge - it can be examined by others at a later date. There's something interesting here for others to find.

By exploring some of the behaviors of Christadelphians, you have added value to the web of knowledge: you have offered another perspective than the rote "faith once delivered to saints".

There are very few places on the web that openly discuss this particular belief system.

Well said, Fred. Because of your message and about a dozen emails, I will leave the blog up - just in case something related should pop up. Meanwhile, you may find my new blog here.

Closing Shop!

2009-12-04T23:28:00.000-08:00

In the very near future this blog will magically disappear. I think I have said all I have needed to say and I plan to move on to other things. If there is anything here you wish to keep, please feel free to make a copy.

A Corrupt and Scandalous Faith

2009-11-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

By Joe E. Holman

Smith:

The year was 1928. The place was Arkansas. Charles Lee Smith, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism was arrested “on charges of blasphemy.” His crime? Passing out atheist tracts in a local town. After spending one night in jail, Smith was released with one charge dismissed while the other was never set for trial. Just like the famous blasphemy trial of C.B. Reynolds decades earlier, Mr. Smith was just one more victim of the American legal system, hijacked by Christianity.

Inoculation:

The year was 1722. The date, July 8th. The place, St. Andrew’s Church in London, England. A bold, determined preacher walked up to his pulpit and delivered a heartfelt sermon entitled, “Against the Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation.” . . . Read More

Public Religion

2009-10-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

Human History at a Glance

2009-10-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

Is Unbelief a Sin?

2009-10-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Over at the Christadelphian "Bible Truth Discussion Forum" I asked the wrong questions and got slammed in a PM by moderator, "nsr".

Corky: What I am getting at is whether or not God requires people to believe in hearsay about fantastic, impossible things recorded by nobody knows who thousands of years ago.

nsr: Here you are making your trademark assertion about the reliability of the canon, despite the fact you've never done any research into the matter, and have been warned several times before about this.

Comment: In other words, nsr thinks he knows who wrote the books in the canon when the real biblical scholars of the world don't know. Plus, he assumes that I have never done any research into the matter.

Corky: If that is required, does God only desire gullible, naive people?

In other words, is unbelief in unbelievable things worthy of destruction? If so, why would God hate people who are not gullible and naive and want proof and evidence of such things? Is it just a stumbling block so that intelligent, reasonable, rational people are left out? And, wouldn't that be a little bit unbelievable too?

nsr: Here you are implying that belief in God is the preserve of the "naive and gullible", and that "intelligent, reasonable, rational" people do not believe in God because there is no evidence. This is again an assertion about a lack of evidence when you haven't actually looked to see if there is any, and a blatant attempt to elicit angry responses, which you have also been warned about before.

Comment: Now, is that what I said or is nsr misreading what I wrote? I said nothing about a belief in God (unless nsr thinks God is one of those "unbelievable" things). I also did not say "there is no evidence". I simply asked pointed questions that evidently they can't answer so it offends them.

Those who are not offended by a few questions may comment on my blog, I'm easy and I won't ban you.

Who is Antichrist?

2009-09-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Of course, the short answer is that the antichrist is the Jews, because the Jews deny that the Jewish Messiah has come in the flesh. However, the Jews are not who the author of the epistles of John is writing about. The author is writing about people who have left the Christian faith.

“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:18-19).

Evidently the folks leaving the faith were calling the faithful a bunch of liars because the author says that what he is teaching “is no lie” (verse 27) but the real liar is the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah (verse 22).
Now, why were these former believers denying that Jesus was the Messiah? Because, just as above, they had been taught that it was “the last time” and that Jesus would return in their generation.

They went out saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Pet. 3:4).

So, the dissenters had finally realized that the generation Jesus was talking about in Mark 13, Matt. 24 and Luke 21 was past, “since the fathers fell asleep”, and they were the next generation and the end still had not come and Jesus still had not returned. However, the author of the epistles of Peter still wanted them to believe that the time of the end was at hand.

“But the end of all things is at hand:” (1 Pet. 4:7).

The New Testament is full of passages that say that “the time is short” and it is “the last days” and the time is at hand etc.

What conclusion could those Christian dissenters have come to except that they had been deceived and Jesus was not the Messiah? Therefore, it was Christian dissenters who the author of the epistles of John is calling the antichrist and are the same ones who the author of 2 Peter calls “scoffers” and this also makes him declare that it was “the last days”, 2,000 years ago (2 Pet. 3:3).

No! Obama is not the antichrist.

The End of All Things

2009-08-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

For all those people who imagine that they are going to reign on the earth for a thousand years, I have some bad news.

"I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky And the fish of the sea, And the ruins along with the wicked; And I will cut off man from the face of the earth," declares the LORD (Zephaniah 1:3).

"Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD'S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth" (Zephaniah 1:18).

" Therefore wait for Me," declares the LORD, "For the day when I rise up as a witness Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal" (Zephaniah 3:8).
See also: Isaiah 13:9, 24:6, 28:22; Jeremiah 4:23-26, 25:32-34; Malachi 4:1; 2 Peter 3:7, 10.

Yes, no one left to reign over as priests and kings, because 2,000 years ago (whew, an awful long time) "the end of all things is (was) at hand" (1 Peter 4:7).

This time it's worse than Noah's flood, because instead of destroying all the living things on earth, God is going to destroy the entire universe.

Well, it wasn't "at hand" and it simply didn't happen - unless I woke up on a new earth this morning and saw a different universe.

The Virgin Birth

2009-08-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the privilege of posting on an exclusive Christadelphian forum a thread concerning the virgin birth of Jesus and was accused of everything from trolling to fishing to misbehaviour just for asking a simple question. Okay, you talked me into it, here's the question:

Since Christadelphian theology doesn't believe in the Trinity or that Jesus was God or a god/man, why believe in the virgin birth?

Of course, that's only a paraphrase of what all I said but just so you get the idea of the thread over there (entitled, "The Only Begotten Son").

After several warnings and no answers to the questions, I came to the conclusion that Christadelphians only believe in the virgin birth of Jesus because of being literalists and inerrant scripture believers.

The Christadelphians believe that Jesus was only a flesh and blood man like any other man except without sin - that being made possible by his being filled with the Holy Spirit (without measure) at his baptism. His resurrection being when he became "the only begotten son" and not at his birth.

This cult cannot grasp the possibility of the virgin birth being interpolated to support the later Catholic doctrines of the Trinity, even though the earliest gospel (Mark) and the apostle Paul do not mention a virgin birth.

This cult cannot grasp the idea that {a god + a woman = a god/man} even though there were many other such god/men in existence at the time of early Christianity. Instead they want to deny that Jesus is God yet retain the virgin birth doctrine, being too stupid to realize that it means the same thing.

The Goodness of God

2009-08-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

Hey, this is my kind of God . . . yeah, I like horror movies, science fiction and macabre. Stephen King and God are my favorite authors.

British Israelism

2009-07-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

British Israelism lacks consistency with modern genetic findings

Human genetics does not support British Israelism's notion of a close lineal link between Jews and Western Europeans. Genetic research into the Y-chromosomes of Jews has found that Jews are closely related to other populations originating in the Middle East, such as Kurds, Turks, Armenians and Arabs, and concluded that:

Middle Eastern populations...are closely related and...their Y chromosome pool is distinct from that of Europeans. (Nebel, 2001.)

Y-DNA Haplogroups J2 and, to a lesser extent, J1 are most commonly identified in Jewish people, which is in contrast to Western Europeans where a more distant Haplogroup R1b is the most commonly identified.
See British Israelism - "criticism"

The Light of the World

2009-07-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

The Branch

2009-07-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

In the first century there was a movement in Galilee and Judea led by Judas of Galilee in 6 AD. After Judas was killed by the Romans, his followers were driven underground and became know as the Zealots.

In modern times and the search for the historical Jesus the evidence is pointing more and more to the Jesus movement being a branch of the Zealots who sought the independence of Israel from Rome through less violent means, i.e., God would restore the kingdom to Israel by destroying the Romans himself.

In other words, the Romans didn't hunt down and crucify Christians because of their religious beliefs but because they were Zealots.

Being the curious sort, I typed "Jesus was a Zealot" in my Google search and found some very interesting articles and books on the subject. Here is one at the top of my list.

Maybe that article will spur someone else to look further into it and maybe, just maybe check out what the Emperor Julian (Julian the Apostate) had to say about the church created by Constantine and Eusebius.

The Ten Commandments Part 2

2009-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Jon Morgan offers an adequate answer to my last post. Not entirely satisfactory but adequate:

Hmmm... While there are many who claim Christianity without reading the Bible (and particularly the Old Testament), such ignorance would be surprising. Fortunately, it's also wrong. If you read from Deuteronomy you will find:

Deuteronomy 5:22 (ESV) 22 “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

So the original ten commandments on the original tablets of stone were those spoken on the mountain (and listed again in Deuteronomy 5). They were not just the verbal communications of Moses. If we read further in Deuteronomy we find:

Deuteronomy 10:1-5 (ESV) 1 “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. 4 And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the LORD commanded me.”

God wrote the second tablets with the Ten Commandments with the same words that were on the first tablets of stone, and they were the Ten Commandments that God spoke on the mountain in the midst of the fire.

It all seems to add up to the traditional interpretation being correct. Exodus 34 is certainly interesting, but if you read it carefully you find that these words were for Moses to give to the people and written by Moses, while the stone with the Ten Commandments was said to be written by God. The way I reconcile these is to assume that the two are different, which harmonises with the clear statements of Deuteronomy that give the words to the people on Mount Sinai as the Ten Commandments.

You are of course welcome to invoke any documentary hypothesis you choose or discount the testimony of Deuteronomy, but I accept both it and Exodus which together show clearly that the Ten Commandments were those revealed on Mount Sinai in fire to the people, not those given to Moses personally in Exodus 34.

It is true that Christ gave new commandments, and that these replace the law given to Israel. However, to say that they are entirely different is misleading. Christ fulfilled the law and replaced it, and it is noticable that some of his sayings are of the form "You have heard it said ... But I tell you ..." actually giving a harder command (for example, replacing "Do not kill" with not being angry).

The Ten Commandments.

2009-06-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does it seem like atheists, agnostics and free thinkers in general have read and know much more about the Bible than the average Christian?

I could give many examples of why this seems to be the case, but one of most compelling to me is the case of the 10 Commandments as pointed out in a recent pamphlet by M. Lee Dietz.

As he correctly pointed out, most all Christians, including politicians who want them prominently displayed in government buildings, seem to think the 10 Commandments that God supposedly etched in stone tablets and gave to Moses are as follows...

1.Thou shall have no other gods before me.
2.Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image.
3.Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy god in vain.
4.Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.
5.Honor thy father and mother.
6.Thou shall not kill.
7.Thou shall not commit adultery.
8.Thou shall not steal.
9.Thou shall not bear false witness...
10. Thou shall not covet..

I'm always seeing things like sketches, recreations and artists' renderings of the stone tablets that God gave to Moses. And 100% of the time, the above "charges" will be on them. But these were just verbal charges that God gave to Moses in Exodus 20 and told him to verbally communicate them to the people of Israel. They were never etched in stone and the Bible is very clear about this.

The commandments that were actually supposed to have been carved in stone by the finger of God, not once but twice, didn't appear until Exodus 34 and were as follows...

1. Thou shall worship no other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god.
2. Thou shall make thee no molten gods.
3. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep
4. Six days thou shall work, but on the seventh day, thou shall rest
5. Thou shall observe the feast of weeks
6. Thrice a year your men children shall appear before the Lord, the God of Israel.
7. Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven
8. Thou shall not leave the feast of the passover unto the morning
9. The first of the fruits of the land thou shall bring into the house of the Lord thy God
10. Thou shall not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

As anyone can see, there is very little resemblance to the 10 charges that most Christians believe to be the commandments that were etched on those stone tablets. Its bad enough that they believe in a book of fairy tales, but it doesn't even look like most of them have even read it to begin with.

Blame the Victim

2009-06-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

It was bound to happen and sure enough it did. George Tiller, an abortionist doctor, deserved to be murdered! So says Edward Fesar, who teaches for a community college Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California.

In this blog post Edward Feser compares Tiller to Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed, dismembered and ate 17 men and boys. Feser claims that "Tiller was almost certainly a more evil man than Dahmer was."

Actually, this is just typical of what happens when a Christian commits a crime in the name of God - blame the victim. It is always the victim's fault for being an abortion doctor to start with - or a homosexual or an atheist or whoever else the Christians are hating these days.

You would think a professor at a community college would be above such things but not this guy. He even has an atheist hate, book length, diatribe against the new atheists, "The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism."

On the Assassination of Dr. Tiller

2009-06-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

You might consider the notion, as did Voltaire, that the ability to convince people to believe absurdities entails also the ability to convince people to commit atrocities, such as the recent assassination of Dr. Tiller.

Also, there's the divisiveness of religion, which really wasn't a problem in the ancient world, because each region had its own gods, and accepted the fact that other regions had different gods.

Now, though, when the world is becoming intermixed to a degree never seen before, the various faith elements can no longer hide in their own little enclaves, but must interact with those of other faiths.

Many people in certain faith groups are not at all willing to do this, and as a consequence develop an "us vs. them" worldview. And the "them" can be anyone at all, from political leaders to members of one's own family.

It's my opinion that the psychological abuse caused by the forcing of religious dogma onto children has caused far more emotional and physical suffering than any other single human behaviour. Just listen to some of the teens that post in the atheist/christian forums and blogs, who've been ostracized by family and/or community for not believing exactly what they've been told to believe, when they can see for themselves that it's inherently unbelievable.

Believing is not better than knowing. To find out the truth is much more conducive to both personal and collective survival than is merely believing the comfortable lie.

To depend on an omnipotent deity to solve our problems is to never see them solved, because we never learn how to solve our problems for ourselves, and because of the complete absence of the imagined deity nothing is done toward solving them. Eventually these unsolved problems will become so great that they will drag humanity down to extinction, and then where will God be? He won't even have human minds to reside in, nor any more gaps in knowledge, since knowledge will cease to exist.

When eternal live is expected, that very expectation undermines the willingness to make this present life better, and removes any motivation to make the world a better place, where humanity can do more than merely subsist, but can thrive and spread life abundantly to the hostile reaches of the cosmos.

I forgot to mention that religiosity can have a negative impact on societies, as well:
Cross-national Correlations of Quantifiable Social Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies

Children Of . . .

2009-05-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

A Group For Ex-Christadelphians

2009-05-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

A discussion group for Ex-Christadelphians has been created on Facebook.

This is a closed group. Members must be invited or approved by the administrators.

Once a Christadelphian but not anymore?

Join this group!

This group is aimed toward people who were once members of the christadelphian religious belief system. The purpose of the group is to facilitate friendly, open and informative discussion about Christadelphia, including why you joined, why you left and what you have learned along the way.

Gay Marriage Will Make the Universe Collapse.

2009-05-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

Glenn Beck: 'Gay Marriage Will Make the Universe Collapse.'"

And not metaphorically, literally. Try to follow this "reasoning" from Beck; "I contend [marriage] is the building block of the entire universe. If the male and the female don't get together, then the whole universe collapses."

And you thought the black hole machine was dangerous.

I'm guessing this means that if we keep allowing same sex marriage, the Hive Mind of Aries 7 will come and make us stop by bringing us into the Galactic Psionic Amalgam, where we'll lose all sense of identity and become mindless drones serving the Central Cortex. Do you want that? Huh? Huh?

Yeah, I didn't think so. (Alternet, via reddit)

Stupid Atheists . . .

2009-05-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

1st Foundational Falsehood of Creationism

2009-04-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

How To Be Crazy

2009-04-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Step 1. Be Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Step 2. Sit back and enjoy the crazy.

America's favorite Republican lunatic was interviewed by Minnesota radio station KTLK-AM last weekend and it turns out that Obama signed an expansion of AmeriCorps because he's Pol Pot. This is a nice change from the "Obama's Hitler," "Obama's a secret Muslim terr'ist," and "Obama's the antichrist" stuff you usually get from the wingnut fringe.

According to the report, Shelly "fears the Obama administration will create 're-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums.'" Good thing she's watching out for stuff like this, because it's not paranoid at all.

Still, some naysayers are making with the saying of the nay. "FactCheck.org debunks this line of thinking on the national service bill," we're told.

Facts. Pffft! Who needs facts? We don't need no steenking facts. Facts are elitist because they tell you what to believe. Where would we be today if we relied on these so-called "facts?" Not in Iraq, I promise you that. Because the "facts" had it that there were no WMD there and that Saddam Hussein was no threat to the US. Those "facts" were easily countered with "9/11, 9/11, 9/11!!" So how true can "facts" possibly be?

"Facts" tell us that there were no dinosaurs on Noah's Ark, that global warming's some kind of problem, that waterboarding is torture, that the Earth orbits the Sun, and that babies aren't found under cabbage leaves. Screw that.

Michele Bachmann shows us that if we believe something hard enough -- really wish it so with all our little hearts -- it automatically comes true. Some people would call that "magical thinking," but those people are terr'ists and commies.

It's called faith. Welcome to the crazy. (Minnesota Independent)

Abraham and Hercules

2009-04-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

HOW THE NATION OF THE TROGLODYTES WERE DERIVED FROM ABRAHAM BY KETURAH.

ABRAHAM after this married Keturah, by whom six sons were born to him, men of courage, and of sagacious minds: Zambran, and Jazar, and Madan, and Madian, and Josabak, and Sous. Now the sons of Sous were Sabathan and Dadan. The sons of Dadan were Latusim, and Assur, and Luom. The sons of Madiau were Ephas, and Ophren, and Anoch, and Ebidas, and Eldas. Now, for all these sons and grandsons, Abraham contrived to settle them in colonies; and they took possession of Troglodytis, and the country of Arabia the Happy, as far as it reaches to the Red Sea. It is related of this Ophren, that he made war against Libya, and took it, and that his grandchildren, when they inhabited it, called it (from his name) Africa. And indeed Alexander Polyhistor gives his attestation to what I here say; who speaks thus: "Cleodemus the prophet, who was also called Malchus, who wrote a History of the Jews, in agreement with the History of Moses, their legislator, relates, that there were many sons born to Abraham by Keturah: nay, he names three of them, Apher, and Surim, and Japhran. That from Surim was the land of Assyria denominated; and that from the other two (Apher and Japbran) the country of Africa took its name, because these men were auxiliaries to Hercules, when he fought against Libya and Antaeus; and that Hercules married Aphra's daughter, and of her he begat a son, Diodorus; and that Sophon was his son, from whom that barbarous people called Sophacians were denominated."

Flavius Josephus - Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 15

Hunting Unicorns

2009-04-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

What the hell has Michele Bachmann been smoking? America's favorite batshit-crazy Minnesotan has introduced a bill to "bar the dollar from being replaced by any foreign currency." Not that anyone's proposing we do that, mind you. I guess it's just in case.

I guess the wingnut "global currency" question at Obama's press conference has Michele all freaked out. But would a global currency actually be a foreign currency? I think logic would say no. They eat cheese in Europe, we eat cheese here, does this make cheese a "foreign" food?

Anyway, it doesn't matter much. The whole thing's a bunch of crap and Shelly's saving us from a made-up currency that probably wouldn't be anymore problematic than traveler's checks anyway.

Next up, a ban on hunting unicorns . . . (Yglesias)

Allegory

2009-03-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

More and more, educated Christians are calling the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve an allegory. However, allegories don't pass on "original sin" to their descendants, because allegories don't have descendants. Neither can allegories cause a "fall" of mankind. So, literally or allegorically - the story of Adam and Eve has to be a fable.

Then there is the modern Christian way of looking at Noah's flood, they call it a local Mesopotamian flood. But that can't be what the story means for two or three good reasons.

(1) Noah was commanded to gather all the clean and unclean animals into the ark, 7 pairs of clean and 2 (male and female) of unclean. There would be no purpose for doing that if the flood was a local one.

(2) Noah was commanded to build a huge ark for all these passengers when it would have been only a few days walk to the safety of the mountains of Ararat.

(3) 2 Peter 2:5 says it was a literal worldwide flood.

Today we know scientifically that a worldwide flood never happened, so there goes another fable. How many fables do we need to call a book a book of fables? Well, suppose we throw in a talking snake and fruit from a tree that imparts knowledge?

How long will this nonsense be accepted and believed by intelligent people?

Give Theists Respect?

2009-03-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

I've noticed a lot of people saying we should give Theists respect for their beliefs.

At first mention this sounds peaceful, enlightened even, but I've come to realize they deserve no respect whatsoever.

These are people who spit in the face of scientific discoveries, the work of Einstein, Darwin, Newton and other great men just totally disregarded.

All our technological progress ignored and mankind's achievements forgotten.

These are people who actually refuse to accept Evolution! Treat it as a religious faith rather than a proven scientific theory!

Then they teach their, frankly dangerous, beliefs, to children! These are people who live in a fantasy world and want the rest of us dragged down into it with them.

They believe animals and plants once talked and that firebreathing dragons will one day kill us all.

They believe love pours from the sky from an omnipotent being who needs nothing yet demands worship from human lifeforms.

They believe that people can be turned into salt and that the entire globe was once flooded, ignoring all the other ancient civilizations who didnt notice this global flood.

They believe 2 (and 14) of each animal on the globe lived on a boat together for a year.

They believe all people are inbred.

They believe dinosaurs, and everything that lived before dinosaurs and between man and dinosaur, all lived together at the same time.

They believe the entire universe is only 6000 years old and ruled by something that is invisible yet looks like a man.

They believe in an afterlife but not a beforelife.

They believe in infinite punishment for finite crimes.

They believe people can rise from the dead and then fly into the sky.

They believe inanimate objects can turn into animals, or people, or bread, etc.

They believe in an omnibenevolent God who created hell.

They believe they can enjoy a heaven while fellow human beings burn in hell.

These are not only ridiculous, but disturbing, and even more so when they teach these things to your Children!

These people deserve no respect, no respect at all!

Jesus and Hercules

2009-02-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

Historial people leave us with contemporary evidence, but for Jesus we have nothing. If we wanted to present a fair comparison of the type of information about Jesus to another example of equal historical value, we could do no better than to compare Jesus with the mythical figure of Hercules.

IF JESUS, THEN WHY NOT HERCULES?
If a person accepts hearsay and accounts from believers as historical evidence for Jesus, then shouldn't they act consistently to other accounts based solely on hearsay and belief?

To take one example, examine the evidence for Hercules of Greek mythology and you will find it parallels the "historicity" of Jesus to such an amazing degree that for Christian apologists to deny Hercules as a historical person belies and contradicts the very same methodology used for a historical Jesus.

Note that Herculean myth resembles Jesus in many areas. The mortal and chaste Alcmene, the mother of Hercules, gave birth to him from a union with God (Zeus). Similar to Herod who wanted to kill Jesus, Hera wanted to kill Hercules. Like Jesus, Hercules traveled the earth as a mortal helping mankind and performed miraculous deeds. Similar to Jesus who died and rose to heaven, Hercules died, rose to Mt. Olympus and became a god. Hercules gives example of perhaps the most popular hero in Ancient Greece and Rome. They believed that he actually lived, told stories about him, worshiped him, and dedicated temples to him.

Likewise the "evidence" of Hercules closely parallels that of Jesus. We have historical people like Hesiod and Plato who mention Hercules in their writings. Similar to the way the gospels tell a narrative story of Jesus, so do we have the epic stories of Homer who depict the life of Hercules. Aesop tells stories and quotes the words of Hercules. Just as we have a brief mention of Jesus by Joesphus in his Antiquities, Joesphus also mentions Hercules (more times than Jesus), in the very same work (see: 1.15; 8.5.3; 10.11.1). Just as Tacitus mentions a Christus, so does he also mention Hercules many times in his Annals. And most importantly, just as we have no artifacts, writings or eyewitnesses about Hercules, we also have nothing about Jesus. All information about Hercules and Jesus comes from stories, beliefs, and hearsay. Should we then believe in a historical Hercules, simply because ancient historians mention him and that we have stories and beliefs about him? Of course not, and the same must apply to Jesus if we wish to hold any consistency to historicity.

Get the complete article here - Did a Historical Jesus Exist?

The Greatest Man Who Never Was

2009-02-09T14:52:00.000-08:00

A brief guide to the making of Jesus of Nazareth, the Greatest Man Who Never Was.

1. No one "just made-up" Jesus.

If we step around the centuries of fabrication and glorification which informs everyone's perception of Jesus Christ and closely examine the two hundred year gestation period of the current Lord and Savior – that is approximately 100 BC - 100 AD – we can see a perfectly plausible and, indeed, convincing process by which, upon the legacy of earlier times and from piety and scripture alone, the Christian godman emerged into the light.

Beliefs created the man; the man did not create the beliefs.

In essence Jesus Christ is like every other ancient god, a personification of Principals and Forces. More than anything else, the figure of Jesus symbolized and personified Just Law, Divine Punishment and Reward. The myth did not require the happenstance of a genuine human life to get it going – which is one reason why, as a human being, the superhero is at best only partially formed, even after passing through several revisions and re-workings.

2. Evolving Hero myth

The Jews, a repeatedly conquered people on the fringes of great empires, long nurtured hope for a deliverer. Such heroes of the people were a staple of their sacred literature. During the period 1st century BC / 1st century AD, whilst the Herodian aristocracy happily danced to the tune of the caesars, exploitation of the common people intensified. Upon their backs now weighed the priesthood, the landowning elite and the Romans. The stage had been set in which rabbis and rebels could pitch subversive ideas to the despised and exploited masses.

The Jewish religious radicals – militant patriots within Palestine and proto-Christians of the Jewish diaspora – contended for the future of Judaism. In the Levant, militant resistance to Rome had the upper hand until the final debacle of 135. In the diaspora, a repackaged piety centered on a personal savior god eventually gained the ascendancy, advancing with each successive reversal of belligerency and the attendant flood of refugees and captive slaves into the cities of the Mediterranean.

The early Jewish-Christian scribes drew most of their inspiration from the traditional source – the vast stock of Jewish sacred writings, which were (and are) a reiterating statement of lost piety, divine punishment and righteousness regained.

The earliest "Christ" reigned in Heaven at God's right hand. Nowhere was a genuine human life to be found. Only at the End of Days would he arrive to judge the quick and the dead. Only those who worshipped him, the Elect, would enter the Kingdom.

3. Paganizing the Jewish Myth

Judaism in the Diaspora, for all its exclusivity, became Hellenized. It also attracted a following among pagans disillusioned with their arbitrary traditional gods. In the cities of the eastern Mediterranean, this neo-Judaism fused a multiplicity of old Jewish themes – Son of Man, Wisdom and Messiah with ideas long familiar to pagans: redemptive sacrifice, Son of God, Logos. The farrago made little headway against a reorganizing rabbinic Judaism but found a ready ear among pagans long accustomed to syncretic gods.

Because heavenly existence remained unknowable the handful of intellectuals who led the various bands of early proto-Christians spoke of their Christ by use of an allegorical human life. Set in times past, present and future, it was a device by which their Lord resolved ethical issues and uttered divine Wisdom. Each worthy tenet of a higher morality, every pithy statement of priestly wisdom, was coupled to the majestic name of Jesus the Christ to give sanction and assurance of its heavenly origin.

A revised 'rabbinic' Judaism made an impressive revival in the Roman world in the 2nd century. But by then the heresy now called Christianity had been commandeered by gentile pagans who saw opportunity in a hybridized oriental cult with a strong Jewish core. They took the stock of Jewish scripture, long available in the Greek language, and set it to a new purpose.

4. Allegory mutates into "reality"

The earliest works on the Christian godman had been simple liturgical documents in which the figure of Jesus had no discernible features, no true biography – merely attributes befitting his messianic status, such as absolute assuredness and "authority". A new generation of ex-pagan scribes, convincing themselves that this Lord and Savior had in reality walked upon the earth, set to work to thoroughly ground their hero in an historical setting.

They selected the reign of the most famous Jewish king – Herod – for his birth and the tenure of the most brutal Roman governor – Pilate – for his ministry. The activity of a genuine, pacifist prophet – John the Baptist – was used as a prologue to their hero's own tale and useful historical detail was gleaned from the works of the Jewish historian Josephus.

Scavenging through the pious romances and holy heroics of Hebrew scripture and Jewish history the Christian scribes found edifying story lines and useful characterization. Their intent was that, in the day-to-day struggle for a mass following, their Christ should match rival gods point for point, miracle for miracle. Even so, Christ's "life" remained extremely thin. His "ministry" and wonder working filled only eight weeks or so of "biography" – and that included 40 days and nights in the wilderness.

To make good the shortage of material, Christ's so-called "life" was back-projected as the "fulfillment of prophecy" – art imitating artifice. On the pretext "That Scripture Might Be Fulfilled" every utterance and pronouncement of the ancient Jewish prophets was wrenched out of context and repurposed as a prefiguring of the Christian wonder-worker.

To those who already "believed" it was the majestic design of an ineffable God, weaving the wondrous image of his only begotten son across several centuries of Jewish history. The misadventure and internecine strife of an entire people were reduced to the prologue for the Christian godman.

The compendium that resulted – ambiguous, inconsistent, improbable and impossible – though never intended as a "history", nonetheless masqueraded as such, underpinning the claims of the faith to a unique historical foundation. But any attempt to reconstruct the timetable or itinerary of the "ministry" of the Christian savior is doomed to failure because the gospels are both inadequate and contradictory. One moment Jesus is in the Decapolis, receiving word of the death of John the Baptist, the next he is in Phoenicia expelling demons. One moment Jesus is "transfiguring" on a mountain in Syria, the next he is pontificating in Samaria.

5. It's All a Fraud

Every instance in the godman's "career" was nothing other than a set piece, templated from an earlier source. Jesus the Christ, King of Kings, Light of the World, High Priest forever, Good Shepherd, Universal Judge and the Savior of Mankind is nothing less than – nothing other than – an omnibus edition of all that had gone before, the final product of ancient religious syncretism.

A 'life' conjured up from pious fantasy, a mass of borrowed quotations, copied story elements and a corpus of self-serving speculation, does not constitute an historical reality.

It constitutes a myth, a hero-myth, in essentials no different from the legends of champions that times of crisis called into existence in many cultures. "Jesus Christ Lord and Savior" is certainly the most convoluted and enduring of such accretions but its fabrication from simple elements is no less apparent than that of any other west Asian salvation god.

Makes You Think

If all this sounds shocking and difficult to accept reflect on the following:

1. Absolutely nothing at all from secular history corroborates the sacred biography and yet this 'greatest story' is peppered with numerous anachronisms, contradictions and absurdities. For example, at the time that Joseph and the pregnant Mary are said to have gone off to Bethlehem for a supposed Roman census, Galilee (unlike Judea) was not a Roman province and therefore ma and pa would have had no reason to make the journey.

2. Nazareth (let alone a city of Nazareth) did not exist during the first century.

3. Many elements of the 'Passion' make no sense historically. For example, a trial for Jesus, when suspected rebels were habitually arrested and executed by the Romans without trial?

4. There is NO corroborating evidence for the existence of the 12 Apostles and absolutely NO evidence for the colorful variety of martyrs' deaths they supposedly experienced. The Bible itself actually mentions the death of only two apostles, a James who was put to death by Herod Agrippa and the nasty Judas Iscariot. The fanciful heroics were dreamed up to inspire generations of gullible Christians.

For further information on the dark history of the Christian Church more than 70 articles are freely available on the website:

www.jesusneverexisted.com
Kenneth Humphreys
1st June, 2005

The Domestication Of Humans

2009-02-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

An excerpt from the book, The Gospel Writers.

Civilization is the domestication of humans by other humans. In fact, we are the only indigenous life on our planet who tries to domesticate each other, along with other animals. This domestication can range from a mild form, which helps us to adapt to close-quarters living in population centers, or the more severe form which uses ghosts, gods, spooks, and spirits as a tool for domestication. The earliest domestication of significance is the form developed by walled city-states in Mesopotamia c.6.500 BCE. At this time, democratic assemblies were being replaced by kingships; and as we know kingships eventually were replaced by hereditary monarchies.

From those who have not read the book, The Gospel Writers, I often get the question, "How do you know for sure that there is no god?" I answer them in this way, "There is only one way to prove to you that a god does not exist; and that is, to prove to you why one does."

If you were a young member of the Ruling Class, not to be confused with the Upper Class wealthiest minority, and you asked me to teach you the secret studies known only to the Ruling Class, the Ruling Class Figure Heads (kings, queens, etc.), and the Priests, I would reveal to you, the following:

I would start by saying that it is all about "legitimizing ownership." That's the key. When a potter makes a pot, he has the right to do with it what he wants, including charging you for using it. When a basket weaver makes a basket, he has the right to do with it what he wants, including charging you for using it. When a god makes a planet, he has the right to do with it what he wants, including charging you for using it.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number I

To own something that was never yours to own in the first place, requires that some kind of "original owner" exist, and that this "original owner" (at a minimum) "gave" it to you.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number II

When the original owner cannot be found, such as the "original owner" of the land, invent one. Tell the people on the land that the "original owner" is an all powerful god, and that you have spoken with this god, and that this god has given you all of the land as a gift for being a good and just person; and because that god knows that you will make sure that all of the people on the land will worship that god. Why a fictitious god, you ask? Because at this time in history, a god (like a Supreme Court) would be the highest "Legal Authority" in the land and therefore any laws and contracts (rulings) handed down by a god could not at this time, be nullified or overturned. Clever legal loophole, wouldn't you say? Make sure you call it a lord (top authority) god; a lower ranking god will not work.

And, do not be naive and think that your army alone will keep the people submissive to your will. They must believe that you have the legal right by divine authority to take control of the land; otherwise you will spend much of your time and money trying to put down rebellions that will spring up from time to time.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number III

You do not need to brainwash them extensively with religion. Because, what they worship is generally unimportant, as long as you maintain ownership of the land by (fictitious) divine authority, which will allow you to control the people on the land. The people know, that for anyone banished from the land, it will mean agonizing loneliness (because they do not speak the languages of the people in other lands) and eventually death. You can always threaten someone with banishment, if they try to rebel and make any statement that refutes your fictitious legal right.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number IV

Once you have told the lie, you can never admit to anyone that the "original owner," (the maker of the land -- a god) never existed. You must silence or kill anyone who tries to say that the "original owner" never existed, or that the whole thing was a hoax to steal the land from the people on the land.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number V

There is an alternative to silencing or killing the people who do not support the "original owner" hoax or idea. Buy their loyalty; but buy it with something that costs you nothing to give away. Tell them that the "original owner" will grant them "immortality" in exchange for worship and belief in him, as the "original owner." In addition, tell them that this immortality will be spent in a place of great beauty and love, where they can be reunited with loved ones who have already died.

And they will be gullible enough to believe you. Why?

Because everything comes back to life after death, such as the Sun each day, the Trees each spring, and even you by way of your first-born son; who looks like you.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number VI

To get the people to work the land that you have now stolen from them, using Lessons 1-4 previously discussed, so that they will generate wealth for you and other Ruling Class members, tell the people that it is the "original owner's" wish that they toil and suffer, so that when they get to that place of great beauty and love, they will appreciate it more. And, that they will never have to work again, once they get there. Plus, they will always be loved and never abandoned by the "original owner."

Ruling Class - Lesson Number VII

Tell the people that the "original owner" is invisible and cannot be seen or described. And, that the "original owner," has no name; in other words, he is not like anyone the people might have heard of before or might run across later.

Tell them also, that the "original owner" can see into their hearts and minds, twenty-four hours a day, ever day of the year. And that, the "original owner" will know, by looking into their hearts and minds, if they do not love him in return or are thinking of abandoning him, (even though he would never think to stop loving them or of abandoning them). This will make them feel very fearful from being under a watchful and invisible eye every moment of their life, with absolutely no privacy anywhere on the planet, and feel very guilty for not loving and staying with someone who loves them. In other words, someone who would never abandon them or become disloyal. This fear and guilt will help them to remain loyal.

Ruling Class - Lesson Number VIII

Remember to tell the people that the Earth was made by the "original owner" in 6,500 BCE; so they do not go looking for the "democratic" non-kingship model, prior to that time. You do not want the Ruling Class - Worker Bee model to be discovered, as the hoax it is; or you will have an expensive and time consuming rebellion on your hands.

The Math and the Perception of Time

The Hoax Version

a. 6,500 BCE + 2,009 CE = 8,509 years since the hoax for stealing land has been going on.

b. 6,500 BCE + 2,009 CE = 8,509 years since the Jewish god created the Earth and all the life forms on the planet.

c. 8,509 divided by 8,509 = 1.00 or 100% of the time, civilization has been going on the way we want them to believe it has. Therefore, it is perfectly normal to live life the way they currently are and there was no other type, ever.

The Truthful Version

a. 6,500 BCE + 2,009 CE = 8,509 years since the hoax for stealing land has been going on.

b. 150,000 - 120,000 years since our species has been on Earth (anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans - from Mitochondrial Eve - White et al. 2009).

c. 8,509 divided by 135,000 (arithmetic mean) = 6.3 percent of the time.

The hoax for stealing land has been going on for less than 10% of the time since we, anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans, have been on Earth. Or, about 472 generations of your ancestors out of about 7,500 generations of your ancestors. In other words, an extremely brief time; and not a very long time as Old Testament religions and the Ruling Class need the Worker Bees to believe. Conceal this at all costs forever or we, the Ruling Class, Old Testament religions, and Figure Heads, are all doomed.

And, even though Turkey was the real "Cradle of Civilization," tell them that Mesopotamia was instead. We don't want them to know about Turkey either.

Next week, we will teach you how to keep this newly stolen land wealth in your family, through the use of a new invention called "Hereditary Monarchies." It's a more advanced version of the hoax you are currently using for your kingships, and it will keep democratic assemblies from forming once again (such as those prior to 6,500 BCE), after your death. End of Lessons.

As I mentioned early, I would answer them in this way, "There is only one way to prove to you that a god does not exist; and that is, to prove to you why one does," which was for the purpose of land ownership and taxes.

Whether it was the LORD of the gods, Yahweh (Jewish god of the Hebrews), during the time of Moses, or the LORD of the gods, Marduk, during the time of King Cyrus of Persia (see Cyrus Cylinder -- The British Museum in London), LORD gods were legal and social domestication tools for the Ruling Class and their Figure Heads and nothing more.

a. Ownership of the land.

b. Ownership of everything on the surface of the land, including water.

c. Ownership of everything below the surface of the land, such as gold, diamonds, granite, limestone, etc.

d. Ownership of everything living or dead on top off or below the surface of the land.

Including the taxes collected on the land of our planet, how many billions upon billions upon billions of dollars would you expect the dollar amount that this land-and-tax hoax represents, which also included all mineral rights, lumber, animals for food and trade goods, water rights, etc.?

Do you think some minority Ruling Class group, might lie to keep an aggressive hold on this wealth? How about a religious organization, the ones who legitimized the taking of the land in the first place? Do you think they might lie to keep a firm and continuous hold on this wealth? If you were to suddenly become the inheritor of the same massive chunk of land that King Cyrus of Persia claimed legal ownership of, what would you be willing to do to keep it? And at the same time, what would you be willing to do to keep all the people on that land from rebelling due to your illegal ownership of that land?

Manipulating our ancestors into believing that Old Testament religions were about spirituality, immortality, ethics, and morality, was a ruse to keep them, and now us, focused on something that sounded very important to pay attention to; and simultaneously, away from figuring out the real function of religion.

So are we a modern civilization? Hardly. A very small group of people still claims to own all of the land and its resources on our planet, which legally belongs to all indigenous flora and fauna on our planet. They acquired ownership, first by fictitious LORD gods, and now they maintain ownership by armies in addition to religion.

The Endtime Generation

2009-01-27T09:32:00.000-08:00

All my life I have heard preachers and others say that we are living in the endtime, the last generation before the return of Christ.

There were other people who had heard that same thing about 2,000 years ago and that THEY were that chosen endtime generation.

1Pet. 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Yes, later translations say "race" instead of generation but since Christendom is a mixture of more than one race, the word cannot mean "race" but literally, "generation". That they were the chosen generation is confirmed by Paul.

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

So, there you have it. THEY were the chosen and PREDESTINED endtime generation when all things written would be fulfilled.

Luke 21:22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

It was the same days of vengeance promised to the scribes and Pharisees - in their days, in their time 2,000 years ago.

Matt. 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Matt. 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Sometime after that 40 year generation came to a close and . . . no return of Jesus . . . people began to ask a very legitimate question.

2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

And, it's been excuses ever since, beginning with the thousand years as one day thing. A thousand years may be the same as one day to a god but to the people who were promised that it would be in their chosen generation it's a lot longer.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T07:41:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2009 begins the year of the ox.

The Chinese calendar was invented by Emperor Huangdi in the year 2637 BC.

That's a couple hundred years before Noah's worldwide flood, so it's kind of interesting how that can be possible.

100 Reasons Why God Does Not Exist

2009-01-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

A 300 Year Gap
A God Who Performs Miracles is Evil
Adding Epicycles to God
Begging the Question: Miracles and Nature
Believing in God is Immoral
Bogus Probabilistic Judgments and God
Can Atheists Be Moral?
Can We Find Evidence for the Divine Properties In ...
Coherence and Atheism
Confusing Possible with Probable and Having a Righ...
Dawkins' Law
Deal With It
Did the Believers Believe?
Does Sin Corrupt our Ability to See God or Does th...
Does the Atheist Need to Respond to Faith?
Does the Theist Have a Moral Advantage Over the At...
Don’t like my tone? Am I being rude?
Everything is to the Glory of God
Fine Tuning's Fatal Flaw
Fitna, documentary about violence, hatred and Isla...
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Gibberish? Non-Cognitivist Speech Act? or Seriou...
Giving God A Free Pass
God and Suffering
God Blind Spot
God Doesn't Do Miracles, full version
God is Not a Watchmaker
God or Gratuitous Evil?
God Wouldn’t Leave Room for Agnosticism, There Are...
God Wouldn't Do Miracles
God's Evil
Grave robbers or Magic?
He Has No Brain, So God Doesn't Exist
Heroism and the Duty to Rescue Demonstrate that th...
How Big Would God's Universe Be?
How Probable is God?
How the Surreal becomes Commonplace
If There is a Satan, then There is No God
If There is a Satan, then There is No God
Incoherent: I Believe Because It Makes Me a Moral...
Is He Keeping His Distance? Or Is He Just Not The...
Is Heaven Guilt Money?
Is Religious Education Child Abuse?
Isn't "God" Just Another Word for New Age Nonsense...
Jerry Falwell: Exploiting Religious Tolerance and...
Knowing Your Own Mind About God
Miracles Make It Harder to Prove God is Good
Miracles Prove That There Is No God
Monkey Morality or Goodness Isn't Magical
Moving On
No Moral Truths? No God.
Non-Cognitive Religious Utterances Produce Beliefs...
One of Several Ways to Prove the Negative
Perfect Word of God? Reliable Historical Document...
Possible, Possible, Possible: Overdrawing the God...
Proving the Negative
Putting the Fox in Charge of the Hen House
Reasonable Belief, Proof, and Uncertainty
Reining In the Fallacious Human Belief Machine
Religion is a Mind Virus
Religious Memes and Rational Autonomy
Remembering God
Sam Harris: The Problem with Atheism and Being Sp...
Science Always Replaces Supernatural Explanations
Science is Not A Religion
Self-Deception: Religion and Science are Compatib...
Should We Believe that Jesus was Resurrected?
Sinking the Raft I’m Standing On
Stephen Pinker: Instinct for Morality
Textual Exegesis Will Not Solve Religious Problems...
The Believer's Moral Double Standard for God
The Burden of Proof is on the Atheist
The Burden of Proof is on the Atheist Redux
The Double Standard of God’s Goodness
The God Urge
The Hidden Costs of Religious Belief
The Inductive Problem of Evil Argument Against the...
The New Ten Commandments
The Paradox of the Soul-Building Defense of Evil
The So-Called Right to Believe: Confusing Hoping ...
The Super Evil Challenge
There Is No Psychic Contact with The Dead
There is No Right To Religious Belief
Top Ten Suggestions For Performing Better Miracles...
Treating Religious Affiliation as Ethnicity
Trying To Be Moral Through The Distorted Lens Of T...
Videos: Dawkins, and Gay Scientists Isolate Chris...
Washing in Blood, Human Sacrifices, Cannibalism, G...
We Are Wired to Resist the Truth About Pointless S...
We Don't Have the Right Dataset to Make the Design...
What If the Lie Really Is Good For Us?
What Would be Evidence for Life After Death?
What Would Change Your Mind?
What Would Make the Atheist Happy?
Wide Atheism: There Are No Gods Whatsoever
You Don't Really Believe In Miracles
You don't Really Expect Us To Believe That, Do You...
4 Important Modern Atheists Discuss Their Work
500 Dead Gods

Why Require Proof of God's Existence?

2009-01-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

Why does one require proof of the existence of anything?

Most people structure their entire lives around a God not proved to exist.

Most people know that humans cannot flap their arms and fly safely from the top of the Empire State Building. Facts like that keep us alive.

Facts and proof are part of the fabric of our society, the reason why our laws are written and the basis of our entire system of mercantile commerce. Without proof, claims cannot be validated and without validation there exists no standards to which we may draw upon for truth.

Would you invest in companies or give out your credit card number over the phone without any proof of the caller's claims, or even proof that the company exists?

The reasons to require proof are far too numerous to name.

The countless millions of people who have lost their lives through murder, torture and as the result of terrorism, along with the countless trillions of dollars in property that have been destroyed are directly due to the lack of proof of diametrically opposing propositionally ideological philosophies.

Religions that believe they have the only path to God, the only book that has been authored by God, that certain geological locations have been given to them by God and that all those who do not believe must be either subjugated, converted or killed cannot exist within proximity to one another.

This has been a catalyst for local destruction for millennia, and now that we have what appears to be a portal from the fourteenth century open onto our world with inhabitants pouring through by the tens of thousands that have access to twenty-first century weapons puts it on a global scale of potential mass homicide.

Imagine all this NOT ever having existed if proof was required outside of ancient texts written by ignorant men with little or no understanding of the world, the universe and basic human physiology.

Yeah, we should demand proof - proof is, well, kind of important. It may even mean the difference between life continuing on this planet or our extinction.

Hey Chris

2008-12-31T20:54:00.000-08:00

What's wrong, my man? Are you afraid that you will not be one of those fortunate enough to be alive and remain until the coming of the Lord Jesus?

Well, put your mind at ease, you won't be. As former Worldwide Church of God minister, Dennis Diehl says:

“You can sure tell it's almost time for Jesus to return,” is a phrase I have heard all my life. During the 1967 Arab Israeli war, when all the forces of Middle Eastern good and evil, depending on who you were rooting for, were coming together for the one big bang before Jesus returned to save us all, I just knew it was the end times. Well that one lasted six days and Jesus, I guess, was recalled. Israel had kicked some serious butt and there would be no need for a Second Coming at that time. In 1973, Egypt and Syria, Kings of the South and North by Bible prophecy buff standards, attacked Israel on Yom Kippur. Jesus, I was told, was in the building and about to come on stage. Alas, Israel kicked some serious butt with the help of those who firmly belief that the Land of Israel is sacred only to them and the source of all true religion. But Jesus was recalled again. In '81 Israel attacked the Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak and surely this could be the big one! Again, you could sure tell it was almost time for Jesus to return. He didn't. Well Israel went on to invade Lebanon in '82 for the seventh Israeli war since the founding of the country in '49. Syria got it's butt kicked and though, we could all sure tell Jesus was about to come back, didn't. In '91 the Persian Gulf was just had to be it. Even Jesus was getting nervous and I was told had mounted his white horse along with the Four Horsemen of the Puckerlips. Hmmm, nothing. Just a lot more innocents and the best was yet to come. The Intifada raged and a few thousand more Arab and Israelis murdered each other and continue to do so. Now we are into the Invasion of Iraq to make the world a nicer place and what a mess.

Sometimes I think those in charge are reading their Bibles and trying their best to push nations this way and that in the Middle East to bring about the Second Coming as something they will no doubt want some credit for from Jesus and God himself. I suspect they might bring about a lot of death and carnage, ruin a few economies or even THE economy, throw most nations into chaos, including ours and yet, Jesus just never seems to get to return and set up the one true Taliban/Christian regime where, with a Rod of Iron, oh no, we shall all be beaten into loving every minute of it. How grateful the entire world will be when it forced to become Christian. How much killing do you think that will cause among Christians vying for the positions in the Kingdom of God that they so richly feel they deserve? Wonder how Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism might feel about it? Hmmm, look a lot like today only worse. But no problem as Jesus will have a Rod of Iron to make his point.

In my dear state of South Carolina, there is a movement underway, so they say, of rabid Christians to move here and set up the ideal Christian state. These are the reincarnated spirits of the recently slain Taliban bent on forcing God's great laws upon us. You know, death by stoning to kids who misbehave, death to women who stray, (men get off the hook on that one), death to gays, death to those that refuse to go along, death to ..., well death to everyone who refuses to be happy under Jesus I guess. To date only a few of these sincerely dillusional, self righteous and scary people have moved here, and the leader has yet to move here. I guess he is more of a pusher of people to come here than someone who would lead them. I'm sorry to live in a place where people like this think the people here are just dying, and they might if they don't obey, to reinvent the wheel of shame, guilt and fear based love and compassion. Talk about new wine in old wineskins......pow!

As far as I can tell, Jesus has failed to return 100% of the times I was told that “it won't be long now.” It's never long now is it? “Behold I come quickly” as spoken by the cosmic Christ in the Book of Revelation has pretty well proven that “quickly” to Jesus, who said he really didn't know the time he'd be reassigned to planet earth a second time, is rather relative. When I say quickly, it is usually pretty...well...soon after I say it. As time dragged on across the carnage of history when “you can tell Jesus is about to return,” quickly evolved to mean that it might be a long time before he returns, but when he does it will be quickly. Duh! That's like saying, “you probably will never get hit by cruise missle, but when you do, it will be quickly. Actually in that context, Jesus is meant to have said “quickly” as in be right back. Of course that was 2000 years ago.

If we don't even wander outside the 20th Century we find 9 MILLION dead in the Russian Civil war of 1917. 15 MILLION dead in WWI and 55 MILLION in WWII. Stalin knocked off 20 MILLION all by himself and Mao knocked off 40 MILLION human beings bringing peace, prosperity and order to the masses. The Congo Free state in Africa disposed of about 8 MILLION at the turn of the century while at the same time, a mere 1 MILLION died the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The Korean war disposed of just under 3 MILLION, Rwanda 1.3 Million, Vietnam 3.5 MILLION, Cambodia another 1.6 MILLION, 1.8 MILLION in Afghanistan, a MILLION more in Iran and Iraq in the '80's. In Sudan, they managed to polish off 1.9 MILLION in the last ten years and in Kinshasa Congo, 3.8 MILLION.

Well I think we get the point. This does not include of course many many more MILLIONS in all the other places on the planet in the past 100 years that have treated each other like vermin to be eradicated in the name of some great leader, no doubt, with a glorious plan, mostly for himself and his friends. We'll have to see about the current Iraq war but don't kid yourself about how many have already died.

An through all this, Jesus must feel it warrants little attention and certainly not worth coming back to end. As someone said, if Jesus hasn't yet returned, what's it going to take? Oh I know some will say, well you see because it will be a time such as has never been seen nor ever will be seen again. Well, for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS in the past 100 years, and BILLIONS before them, it didn't get any worse for them than it did.

How are sincere, yet misguided Christians always able to motivate others with the “almost time for Jesus to return” line, yet live and die themselves to have others pick up the “behold i come quickly mantra” to keep the masses on their toes? Well, it's easy actually because it is motivated by the hope that certainly Jesus will return in MY life because I am alive now, very sincerely fundamentalist Christian, know my Bible and how it's all going to be, so truly it will come in MY time. Oh and for some real scoundrels, there is a lot of money to be made in keeping this story going.

I always had a problem with the need for Jesus to return to fix up the earth when I was originally told by the Church we all went to heaven, or hell depending, at our individual deaths. If that's the case, then millions have made it, end of topic. But of course we have to deal with many places in the Bible that speak of the coming Kingdom, the Messiah who returns, Jesus who comes quickly and of course, the Four Horsemen of the Puckerlips that visit doom on the inhabitants of the earth. Some how, Earth is special and needs to be restored by the Gods, even though we now know that there are thousands if not billions of earth like planets in all sorts of stages of habitable or inhabitable. The idea that earth, while unique for us, is unique for life or the only place in the universe that counts, is simply wrong. I mean it's a nice place and all, if you can avoid being one of the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS that get slaughtered by our leaders throughout history not to mention plague and famine.

I personally think the Book of Revelation is undecipherable bunk, written by someone ingesting wild mushrooms and writing about a cosmic Jesus that is unrecognizable from any Jesus of the Gospels, but I spare you. If you wish to control the masses, scare the poop out of them, promote the faith and go after the bad guys, as you see it, that book is for you and your church. Just be warned, some feel it is a modified Jewish writing to fit a Christian agenda and others take it back even further to a cosmic Egyptian document that has evolved into that book that may be the ultimate meme of human miscalculations. I truly believe that a fundamentalist political system can think it is acting out and promoting the events outlined in the Book of Revelation, thinking to provoke some god to send his son back and let the good times roll, and be dead wrong. The dead won't be them however, it will be everyone else,and no Second Coming to boot.

So how might we view the “Jesus has not returned yet” fact of life to date on this planet? First of all realize that most of the planet is NOT anticipating that event anyway as they are not Christian of any type. I know it's difficult for American's in particular to realize the whole world does not view things as they view them and is not interested in doing so. Most of the planet is not Christian and never will be. All of the Christians are divided and suspicious of each other anyway and have no one set of recognizable beliefs taken from a hard to be understood, pick your interpretation, book we call the Bible. I suspect that there is the same general problem with any people who have a “good book” that causes millions on the planet to fall into the category of unworthy to live, since they don't embrace the book, or don't embrace it with the same rigor that others do.

Secondly realize that the religious Jewish nation, not the secular one, is not looking for a cosmic Jesus either. Those who look are looking for a person who can deliver the nation, not the whole freaking planet. I think they realize that Palestinians and those who embrace Islam will probably not, under any circumstance come to repent and embrace a Jewish leader or leaders of the secular and religious realms. Of course, this is where Fundamentalist Christians say, “well true, and that is why Jesus is coming with a Rod of Iron and why they will try to kill him when he returns” etc... Frankly, any religious solution to the problems of humans getting along and working together for some good is going to have to exclude that Rod of Iron thing. That's just Christian-Isam or Islamic-Christianity, take your pick. Maybe there is is a hint in asking when was the last time Buddhism launched Jihad, genocide or ethnic cleansing upon fellow traveler's on the planet? Hmmm, I realize there are stinkers practicing Buddhism too but that's not what I mean.

Thirdly, maybe the idea of the return of any kind of Messiah or Jesus is just wishful thinking on our terrified of our fellow man part. We all like to think that in a pinch, we'll all be recued somehow by someone but how often does it happen. It did not happen for millions of Jews during WWII and MILLIONS more during the same time. It has not really happened 100% of the time yet and now is all we really have to work with. It would be really scary to think we have to go this alone and work it out among ourselves wouldn't it? I know the Bible says that in the last days will come lustful scoffers who say “where is the promise of his coming?” etc, and I guess that would be me. But where is it??? I mean it was supposed to be “quickly.” It was supposed to be during the time of Jesus generation actually as that is what he said, apologetics notwithstanding. The Apostle Paul certainly “knew” he would not die before the Second Coming, even some might. He was going to be alive in this just around the corner time. But as his life wore on and he grew old, he gave up that idea and just concluded that “ok, whatever, I've made whatever it is, see ya.” That is what is going to be the final realization of all present day “I just know Jesus is coming soon and we will live to see it,” types too. You learn more when you are wrong than when you are right. Maybe that's how I'll learn about this topic...dunno. Or maybe this his how you will learn about this topic...dunno.

You know, if there was ever a guy who wanted the Bible to be true and for Jesus to return to make Lions and Lambs love each other and get along, it was me. I wanted everyone to stop the killing. Hell, I wanted everyone to just stop being rude! I have a brother who is blind, deaf and cannot speak. We know of each other but we never got to know each other. I read of a time where the deaf would hear, the blind would see and the lame leap as a hart and I wanted a part of that. It's a no brainer that in my youth, 14-22 to be exact, my ideal self took over during the 60's, which if there was ever a time where Jesus was just around the corner, that was it. I found the true church who really understood the whole Bible and joined it. They liked me and said I could teach it, which is what I wanted to do as I believed it with all my heart. It took three decades to beat the mythology out of me. Isn't it usually the other way around? You sow your wild oats when young then realize you are going to die and get religion? I'm always heading into town when everyone else is going home!

Maybe it would be better and “my lord delays his coming” for us to just work it out ourselves. There are many who work for peace on this planet. There are many who strive to preserve the resources, beauty and integrity of the planet. Damn, some in high places, still use the idea of conquer and subdue the earth like some woman to be abused, that we find in Genesis. Hey, if God said to rape the place, then we gotta do it and we may as well make some bucks doing so. Native American's have long noted that everywhere the whiteman, let us say men, touch the earth, it hurts. Maybe “Jesus” would prefer we clean up our own mess and that is why, after having rethought his “quickly” remark, he has not returned.

So while it might be nice to sit around and wait for someone to come and mow my yard, clean my house, paint the garage, pour knowledge into my head with a funnel or just issue instructions that I am to follow or else, which actually I don't think is nice, it's not how life really works. Sometimes, when I read or hear what is going on, maybe be going on, or suspect what I hope is not going on with this planet and those who run it, I wish any god/man who is up, out or in there to show themselves and give us a hand. I don't care if it's Osiris, Mithrus, Shiva and Shakti, Jesus, Buddah or the Father or Mother of All Living. As long as they are verifiably NOT human, what the heck. Oh and they can't be Aliens from another Earth either...purley godlike and benevolent is the criteria. They can't be Democrat or Republican, Jihadist, Islamic, Christian, Hamas, Palestinian or Israeli. They can't be Mulluh's or Televangelists either. Other than that, we just might have to work harder to be kinder, more gentle, less greedy, duplistic and caniving. We are going to need leaders that do not have special interests beyond the average persons wildest comprehension. We can't have leaders who abuse their time leading and leave an average paying job a billionaire along with all their family and friends. We can't have someone person or a few making decisions for the many that will enslave the many for decades to come and we certainly can't have leadership that decides what they want and do not want to hear.

I don't look for any deity to show up “quickly” or soon to bale us out. I can imagine some thinking if they do or that then this diety just has to show up like we read in the Bible. They forget that there was a time when the man Jesus, who did his part, provoked the Romans to arrest him (the Romans killed Jesus, not the Jews. That's Christian propaganda), pushed his idea of a Kingdom of God as far as he humanly could, right up to his execution, was reported to have said, when it was all said and done. “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me,” and I know that apologetic too. Jesus deliverer didn't show up either and he felt that deeply. That's how he felt and that's how he died in the story. No deliverance from on High and certainly no idea of what was to follow in his name over the next 2000 years on planet earth, and not in a good way. I believe that for the most part, whoever and whatever Jesus was, AFTER one peels back all the layers added by the Church, he taught precious little of what provokes the kind of hymns like “Onward Christian Soldiers,” or the rantings of men like Martin Luther, against the Christ killers and his own hymns of Christian war and dominance. No different from the Islam we vow to never do that to us.

So maybe we should clean our own houses and not just wait to find ourselves knee deep in filth and the roof about about to fall in on us, before we realize neither the maid nor the carpenter is coming today, or even quickly or soon.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dennis_Diehl

The End is Near!

2008-12-31T08:19:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are at the end of another year . . . and still no Jesus descending with a shout.

Look folks, if we are going to end this thing in 2012, shouldn't the 3 1/2 year great tribulation have already started?

It has to be the "last days" here at this particular "end time" because the mockers and the scoffers are on the increase (like they were back in about 65 AD). Want to bet that there won't be more mockers and scoffers after 2012?

Yes, the old mockers and scoffers, without them we couldn't really tell that it's about time for Jesus to return but just as true today as it was then:

2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Ebert vs. Stein

2008-12-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

Too long an essay to give you the gist with a quote. Film critic Ebert rips up Ben Stein over his Intelligent Design movie Expelled.
Win Ben Stein's Mind.

BykerBob says...

2008-12-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

BykerBob's reply to Christianity and its Persecution of Heretics

I don't know that it was *every* Christian group that was doing this, though, Corky. That any Christians at all would do it is appalling, but I'm not sure that you could forecast that every empowered church group would find it necessary to kill dissenters, just by virtue of being Christians. The Amish, as an example, will shun. But, in their traditional areas, they almost enjoy the same autonomy as do Native Americans on the reservations. Yet, Amish communities are known to be very peaceful. Non violent sects like the Quakers would also be unlikely to kill heretics. It's the zealots, and fanatical practishioners of Christianity that would be more likely to kill. Early colonial witch burners, gay burners, lynchers, etc.

We in the USA are fortunate in that our forefathers went to great lengths to allow for freedom to practice one's beliefs, while at the same time protecting us all from the fate we would suffer had there been a state-sponsored religion. The church is prohibited from also becoming the government. The law provides for due process, and trial by a jury of one's peers. People who violate this are tried as criminals, and severely punished.

We've all experienced abuse at the hands of the cult. And, we got it from inside sources, and outside ones. For our beliefs, many of the "mainstream" church members in our communities had a bit of fun at our expense. It was certainly good to have Jewish friends while growing up, because they understood to a great extent what we were going through. But, at least, the US is not, and was not, a theocracy where the name calling would have been official.

I imagine that it would have been very difficult to have grown up WCG in Italy, or Mexico. Even so, from the fifties to the present, I can't even recall ever hearing of any great persecutions of non-Catholics in the Catholic nations. I'm sure there was some name calling from time to time. In contrast, it is well documented today that Christians are currently being persecuted in the Muslim nations. They are being jailed and martyrred, and their churches shut down.

What is really puzzling, is Christian on Christian crime. The most flagrant example of that in recent history is the torching of Black churches by some of the Christian KKK members. It certainly doesn't help the Christian cause that we have examples like the "God hates fags" dude, who is an ordained Christian minister. Legitimate members of the Christian clergy vehemently deplore his actions, though.

We also need to remember all of the persecution which has occurred in the so-called godless commnunist countries. People killing people over ideology, even when religion is totally uninvolved. That would seem to suggest that even if Christianity were completely wiped out, humans would still persecute people with different ideologies from the approved model.BB

Christianity and its Persecution of Heretics

2008-12-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

In the first century there was no heresy for the simple reason that there was no orthodoxy. The 'heresies' referred to in old translations of the New Testament are merely differences of opinion . Small Christian communities believed what they wanted to, and worshipped as they chose. There were no central authorities, no set rituals, no agreed canon of scripture, no Church hierarchy, and no established body of doctrine. In line with the toleration practised throughout the empire each group of Christians was free to believe whatever it wanted. The natural consequence of this state of affairs was that ideas and practices in different communities diverged.

Towards the end of the second century Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, saw the dangers of numerous opinions developing. He attempted to establish an orthodox body of teaching. He wrote a five volume work against heresies, and it was he who compiled a cannon of the New Testament. He also claimed that there was only one proper Church, outside of which there could be no salvation. Other Christians were heretics and should be expelled, and if possible destroyed. The first Christian Emperor agreed. Gibbon summarises the edict which announced the destruction of various heretics: Read More

Given that we have a chance to finally escape this MONSTER, should we not take it?

Illusion and Delusion

2008-11-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

When You Think You Just Know What Tomorrow Will Bring - By Dennis Diehl

I know so many human beings who KNOW how everything in the near and distant future is going to go. They know the details. They know when things will happen, how they will happen, who will cause them to happen, why they need to happen and how they are going to come out smelling like a rose. (I hate that smell).

These are the Bible literalists and fundamentalists who read the Bible and especially what they perceive as Bible prophecy as one would read the news paper or a daily news blog. They see the names of ancient lands as the old name for current world powers. Gog and Magog are the Russians, to some. Ephraim and Manasseh are the United Kingdom and America to others. There are the Kings of the North and Kings of the South in Daniel who they just know are this or that, it keeps changing, country in the Middle East. Europe is "clearly" spoken of in Bible prophecy as is China and parts of Antarctica. Ok, I just made that up. Israel is the Bible God's chosen country and of course people but Palestinians not so much. Genetically, they are identical however. Canaanites all.

Not only do they know which countries are mentioned in Bible prophecy for today, which to them is the end of all time that must shortly come to pass, but some see themselves written into the pages of the Bible. Yep they do! I know the Two Witnesses of Revelation, The Watcher over the world for God, True prophets that live right now on this planet and you can send for their booklets explaining it all, and a whole array of Apostles and True Evangelists.
Each heads up the true church and most hate each other and scoff at their rival insights and predictions.

To date, 100% of them have been 100% wrong 100% of the time.

Here are some charmers and insights of a Pastor Ron Weinland, who has boldly proclaimed himself one of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. His wife, conveniently, has been declared the other witness. I knew Ron personally when a pastor myself. Obviously, I have outgrown it and had to move on or live a rather dishonest life promoting what I no longer saw as true. Mr. Weinland, on the other hand, went on to see himself clearly prophesied in the pages of the Book of Revelation. His rivals in prophecy also tend towards the same delusions.

Ron Weinland:
As far as prophecy is concerned beginning in mid April this year we begin a period of what is known as 1260 days, and that’s 3½ years. A lot of people refer to it as the 3½ year period of a great tribulation that’s going to be on this earth. And that’s exactly where we are in time.

Ron Weinland:
A few years ago God made it clear to me that I was a prophet. That time when he first began to reveal that to me I believed that I was a prophet by what’s referred to in Scripture as interpretationally, in other words being able to interpret prophesies and know the meaning. And there were a lot of things that began to be given concerning the end time.

Ron Weinland
Pentecostal Minister:
I am not at ease fully with this yet. God is teaching me things as we go along here. I cannot imagine saying certain things that are going to be responsible for the death of people. But yet again I can, because there are certain things going to take place where God is going to intervene and destroy millions, literally hundreds, a few hundred million right there at the very end and on the very last day before Jesus Christ returns.

Ron Weinland:
Oftentimes people ask me the question of whether or not I feel that I’m wrong, or ‘What if?’ They keep asking, ‘What if? What if?’ How can I answer that? To me there is no ‘What if?’ It is. It is what it is. And there is no doubt in my mind, as sure as the sun’s coming up in the morning, and it’s going down this evening, this afternoon. That’s just the way it is, it’s that clear, it’s that absolute. There is no altering of anything.

This is how Mr. Weinland, Witness One of Two, sees himself. I might add that over the past couple of years, he has modified his mistakes in such ways as to blame those who listen to him for misunderstanding and taking him too literally.

Mr. Weinland's greatest, self hanging quote of all time came last year when the beginning of the Trumpets of Revelation were upon us.

“Three More Weeks” RW March 29, 2008 sermon:

“If by Pentecost [June 8 2008] I’m just going to make this real clear to everyone. If by Pentecost [June 8, 2008] it is not powerfully and abundantly clear that there has been a great deal of destruction that will clearly encompass a third of all plant life in the US and at least the clear results of this mingled with blood the death of very much animal life and the beginning of large numbers of human life then I will stop preaching. Just so all the critics and everyone out there will understand. I am true to my word in these things. OK? And for all the critics if by the end of July and for most likely around Pentecost if nothing has clearly caused great destruction and death I will make it very clear that I was a false prophet. I will do exactly what I said I would do on aaaaall those interviews that I have held. To do less. Well. Would be quite insane.”

That was six months ago. He was wrong, as are all to date and yet he did not step down and recently now in November of 2008 made it clear, in the above interview, he was still a prophet. No biggie. He just failed to use the adjective "False." There is plenty of time.

Why do we do this or allow ourselves to have others do this to us? There is a lot of money and ego pumping fame in pretending to know the mind of God and what is about to happen. Even the Apostle Paul used such terms to motivate the faithful in the New Testatment. He told the Church that "time was short," and that the end was closer than when they all first came upon the truth he had for them. One can see the evolution of Paul's dissapointment and need to grow up. Later in the New Testament he says time is still short, but that he fought the good fight and now was going to die. Previous to this, he had declared that "we who are alive and remain will be caught up together in the clouds with the Lord," yet some others, not him, would die before Jesus returned. He was wrong too. Even later, those who dared ask, "where is Jesus," were labeled scoffers and part of the problem and that God doesn't see time as we mere humans do. "A day with God is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day." All this to not admit that the human leaders under God and Jesus were wrong. Blame the people and never apologize for being wrong. Never let 'em see you sweat I guess still applies.

In the Weinland interview, it was the psychologist, not the Theologian, who nailed the reasons why we have this need to think we can know the future. I'll let her speak for herself. She never comments until late in the interview, but must have felt she was in a session with a delusional patient.

THE PSYCHOLOGIST
Susan Tanner
Clinical Psychologist:
"Now many things are not predictable. The world is a very uncertain place. People change their jobs, organisations fold, collapse, you know, There is no guarantee in anything any more…Global threats like war, climate change certainly create anxiety too because the future is no longer guaranteed….…that sort of unpredictability and uncertainty creates a lot of anxiety, and anxiety is often a precursor to depression.Unresolved anxiety sets people up for depression, because you can then feel despondent that well there actually isn’t anything I can do. Because climate change is out of my hands, terrorism is out of my hands… So that can lead to what’s called catastrophic thinking, that imagining the worst scenario of what might happen and then believing that that’s what will happen."

Susan Tanner:
"Apocalyptic thinking can be very useful to people who need to feel a sense of control, and that they therefore feel calm because they know what’s going to happen. Living with uncertainty, living with a question mark is the hardest thing to do for all human beings. We like to know what’s going to happen. That’s why we visit clairvoyants and you know we have our tarots read and all sorts of things…."

Susan Tanner:
"There are massive risks when someone has extreme delusional thinking. There are risks to the individual. And there are obviously dangers to other people and that can be hundreds or thousands of other people, when someone is totally controlled by their delusional thinking. And you know we have lots of examples of that in our history."

Finally, the interview concluded with this observation.

Greg Clarke
THE LITERATURE SCHOLAR
Director of Centre for Public Christianity:
"Stories about the end will always appeal to human beings and that is part of our psychology. What I hope people will do is sort out the truth from the fiction and recognise what we can understand from the bible about God’s view for this world and not tip over into paranoia or confusion or fear, which often has terrible social consequences."

Our world, its politic and certainly its religious views are infested with this kind of need to think we can see the future. The Bible is a record of humans believing and writing to relieve the angst that comes with not knowing. Yet, we don't know. We can't know. And I'd like to think that it's not all layed out like a play where all we ever did was show up and act out predetermined lives with no personal responsibility to change or accept things as they are.

The world of religion is full of humans who should resign as Master Seer's for God because they are not and many innocent yet naive people get drawn to them to their harm.

Bible Origins: Forbidden Knowledge

2008-11-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

According to the Bible Origins Website:
"Quite simply, the findings of Science from the fields of Astrophysics, Geology, Archaeology, Anthropology, and Literary Criticism have concluded that the Bible is _not_ the word of God, this precious hard-won scientific knowledge constitutes The Forbidden Knowledge on the Bible's Pre-biblical Origins (please click here for a very fine article on what constitutes "forbidden knowledge" according to the Wikipedia). The "forensic evidence" (physical evidence) unequivocably _contradicts_ (refutes, denies and challenges) the witness' (Bible's) testimony regarding the age of the Universe and of the Earth, how life came into being, and when this occurred. For some conservative Catholic Scholars the earth and the universe was created 5199 B.C. while some conservative Protestant scholars understand this event was in 4004 B.C. _CONTRA_ these dates (being derived from the Bible's internal chronology), Astrophysists understand from data compiled by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope that the earth is 4 billion years old and the universe is 14 billion years old. If the Bible has the age of the earth and universe wrong what else does it have wrong? Archaeology and Geology reveals there never was a Garden of Eden or Adam and Eve, nor was there ever in the earth's geologic history a universal Noah's Flood, and the Exodus -as portrayed in the Bible- is fiction according to the findings of Archaeology. The discipline of Literary Criticism has established that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, in the 16th or 15th century B.C. as claimed by Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions, the texts were composed in the 7th or 6th century B.C. The counterclaims of Christian Apologists are investigated and their "flawed methodologies" are noted (They claiming that Satan and his Demons have "misled" and "duped" the Scientists and that the Bible is a reliable witness)."

JEWISH BELIEF BASED ON NATIONAL REVELATION

2008-11-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

A Rabbi says:

"Of the 15,000 religions in human history, only Judaism bases its belief on national revelation -- I.e. God speaking to the entire nation. If God is going to start a religion, it makes sense He'll tell everyone, not just one person.
Judaism, unique among all of the world's major religions, does not rely on "claims of miracles" as the basis for its religion. In fact, the Bible says that God sometimes grants the power of "miracles" to charlatans, in order to test Jewish loyalty to the Torah (Deut. 13:4). . . .
. . . Judaism is not miracles. It is the personal eyewitness experience of every man, woman and child, standing at Mount Sinai 3,300 years ago."

http://www.aish.com/spirituality/philosophy/Why_Dont_Jews_Believe_In_Jesus$.asp

Wait a minute . . . Didn't all those eyewitnesses die in the wilderness without ever writing a word about it or proving it to other people? Even if Moses did write about it (he didn't) that's still only one witness (not enough) and he died in the wilderness also.

Well . . . "poof", no eyewitnesses.

Noah's Flood, Real or No Real

2008-10-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Nothing simpler. For a start, we would expect to find:

* A global uniform sediment layer
* Global uniform flood deposits
* Uniform fossil layers, deposited globally, and at the same time
* A geological record indicative of a global flood
* Evidence of a massive species bottleneck in all oxygen breathing animal populations on the earth, as well as in the human population
* Evidence of species distribution and diversity indicative of a global flood
* Evidence of all civilizations on the earth at that time being simultaneously destroyed by a flood, leaving massive archaeological evidence for the fact

We would not expect to find:

* This evidence contrary to a global flood
* A geological record which contradicts a global flood
* A species record with no discernible chronologically and geographically uniform bottleneck
* Species distribution and diversity incompatible with a global flood
* Evidence of civilizations on the earth at the time of the flood which were entirely unaffected by the flood and which left no record of it

Christadelphian Admits Problem With Christ's Return

2008-10-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

A Christadelphian outlines all the "at hand" and "shortly" problem passages in the New Testament and solves the problem by claiming God has "deferred" the fulfillment for thousands of years. He doesn't explain why this postponement would be so long except to suggest that God is waiting for Christianity to come into the unity of the faith and for the Jews to repent and accept Jesus as their Messiah, an impossibility if ever there was one. Of course, this contradicts the whole idea of the New Testament that it would all happen in that generation and that he would not delay his coming.

An interesting read and a much better apology than 2 Peter.

Christadelphian Religion Plagiarized?

2008-10-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks as though Herbert W. Armstrong is not the only founder of a cult that plagiarized his entire set of doctrines from someone else.

Dr. John Epps and Dr. John Thomas sound like one and the same man in their religious views.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Epps

I've always wondered where John Thomas (the founder of the Christadelphians) got his ideas from . . . and John Epps didn't even get an honorable mention in my old ecclesia, strange that, since it is possible that John Thomas plagiarized the whole Christadelphian religion from John Epps (or vice versa?)

The Ex-Christadelphian

The Resurrection

The Broad and Narrow Way

Ex-Christadelphian Christadelphians

Angry Atheists?

Goodby Facebook!

How the Bible Works - Part 2 -The New Testament

Jesus is Coming Soon!

Skewed Views of Science

Gittin' Unscrewed

╔══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╗☼ In Memory of Becky Rush ☼╚══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╝

Gittin' UnscrewedBy Becky

copyright © 1997-2003 by The Painful Truth. All rights reserved.

Escaping Christadelphianism

Prayer Trials

The Superiority of Christianity

The Jesus Swindle

How the Bible Works - Part 1 -The Old Testament

Israel Does NOT Fulfill Bible Prophecy

The Physician Who Doctored the Truth

Resurrection Debunked

The Last Days Were At Hand

Casting Pearls

Un-Writing the Bible: Enoch's Son of Man and Jesus

Un-Writing the Bible: Enoch's Son of Man and Jesus

Un-Writing the Bible: Enoch's Son of Man and Jesus

Why God Doesn't Heal Amputees

Superstition

Christian Reasoning

The Imminent Return of Christ

Calling For WCG/GCI Financial Accountability

The God-Man

Christadelphia and Evolution

GCI is Not a Member of the ECFA

Repent!

Fred Said

Closing Shop!

A Corrupt and Scandalous Faith

Public Religion

Human History at a Glance

Is Unbelief a Sin?

Who is Antichrist?

The End of All Things

The Virgin Birth

The Goodness of God

British Israelism

The Light of the World

The Branch

The Ten Commandments Part 2

The Ten Commandments.

Blame the Victim

On the Assassination of Dr. Tiller

Children Of . . .

A Group For Ex-Christadelphians

Gay Marriage Will Make the Universe Collapse.

Stupid Atheists . . .

1st Foundational Falsehood of Creationism

How To Be Crazy

Abraham and Hercules

Hunting Unicorns

Allegory

Give Theists Respect?

Jesus and Hercules

The Greatest Man Who Never Was

The Domestication Of Humans

The Endtime Generation

Happy Chinese New Year

100 Reasons Why God Does Not Exist

Why Require Proof of God's Existence?

Hey Chris

The End is Near!

Ebert vs. Stein

BykerBob says...

Christianity and its Persecution of Heretics

Illusion and Delusion

Bible Origins: Forbidden Knowledge

JEWISH BELIEF BASED ON NATIONAL REVELATION

Noah's Flood, Real or No Real

Christadelphian Admits Problem With Christ's Return

Christadelphian Religion Plagiarized?

╔══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╗
☼ In Memory of Becky Rush ☼
╚══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╝

Gittin' Unscrewed
By Becky