Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Why Are Preachers Always the Most Bigoted People?
Why is is that preachers, who are supposed to preach love and teach you how to live like God wants you to, are always the most bigoted people around? They tell you to hate gay people, they tell you to hate Jews, they tell you to hate Muslims. They even tell you to hate Christians! One of the groups of people that Preachers hate the most is Catholics (this is going to be the main point of this post). I am sick and tired of people thinking that Catholics are bad just because their bigoted preacher tells them that they are. Ask anyone who thinks that Catholics are going to Hell why they think that way, and they can't tell you. Oh, they will try to come up with some way to justify their thoughts, but they can't actually point out anything. Well, other than the dumbass pedophile priests. But this has been going on for centuries, while the child molestation has been happening for 25-30 years (that we know of).
Everything can always be traced back to (at least) one of these two things: Money and Power.
Through out history, everything has been about one of these two. Ironically, the Catholic Church is a great example of this. Through out most of its history, powerful people have been attracted to the Church's ability to mandate exactly how you should live your life. Power hungry people are attracted to places with lots of power, and it was much easier to gain power through the Church than it was to become a King. This has caused some of the worst tragedies since the beginning of mankind. Well, until Communism came along (I doubt it if the Catholic Church had 120 million people put to death in less than a century as Communism has). I am planning on writing a longer, much better researched post on this topic, so be on the look out in the near future for a great history of the corruption of the Catholic Church though out it's 2,000 year history and how it applies to our world today.
The power hungry will always look for ways to get more power and more money, and religion is a great way to accomplish this. Once you have become a member of a church, you have accepted the minister as your spiritual guide. So, you have already made up your mind that he is correct, and that you will follow his advice no matter what he says. So, when he says that certain people are going to Hell because they don't do exactly what he (supposedly) does, you will believe it.
The Catholic Church is one of the only two churches on Earth that can trace their heritage directly back to Jesus (the other being Greek Orthodox), so how exactly is your preacher right when he says that the church that Jesus created is wrong? Didn't your church break away and start doing things different from the way that Jesus said to do them? Oh, I'm wrong about that? What about the fact that Most Bibles have missing Books called the Apocrypha? And no, I'm not talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls. No Bible has never contained those. They were left out when the Council of Nicea decided which Christian Holy Books would be included in the Bible, which happened in 325 AD (I think). I am talking about books that were originally included, but where removed by Protestant reformers during the 17th Century.
Sure, in historical times the Catholic Church was used by the power hungry to oppress the masses and obtain more power. But the roles have now changed. The Catholic Church has now moved to the position that it should have held through history, and Protestant churches have become the centers of power and corruption.
How many times have you seen a preacher driving a Jaguar? I know I've seen many. Why do they need you to keep donating money? Where does it go? Why is it that they NEVER have money, and ALWAYS need you to give more?
At least with Catholic Priests, you know that they do not have a family to support, and so they are not worried about getting money to buy their wife a new BMW or needing to send their kids to college. They have taken a vow of poverty and chastity, and so are not worried about the things that money can buy. They know that if they forgo those things here on Earth, they will have a special place in Heaven. Your preacher, on the other hand, does not feel this way. And I've heard all of the arguments about priests being able to get married leading to them not molesting children. But thats not allowed today, and you complaining about it on this blog will do nothing but make you look like an idiot with no argument against what I have posted. So don't.
Th more that your preacher talks bad about the Catholic Church, the less likely it is that you will leave his church. If he can keep you there, he will get more money. The larger the congregation is, the more power he has. So, you see, everything is about money and power.
I'm not sure about other people, but I know that I have never heard ANY Catholic priests talk bad about anyone. The Pope says some things about homosexuality and abortion, but he usually says nothing about the people involved. "Hate the sin, not the sinner". Hating the sinner (or the Catholic, in this case) makes you no better than those idiots from Kansas that protest at soldiers funerals. The only difference is that they have taken the messages of your preacher to their inevitably violent ends. Do you really want to be associated with those dumbasses?
Now, I know that not all preachers are this way. There are some that are truly doing what they do because they feel like they have been called by God. But, the majority of the ones that I have come into contact with are exactly as I have described. And before you go off in a comment about how your preacher is the greatest thing on Earth and is only doing Gods bidding and is better than me, ask your self these questions:
Everything can always be traced back to (at least) one of these two things: Money and Power.
Through out history, everything has been about one of these two. Ironically, the Catholic Church is a great example of this. Through out most of its history, powerful people have been attracted to the Church's ability to mandate exactly how you should live your life. Power hungry people are attracted to places with lots of power, and it was much easier to gain power through the Church than it was to become a King. This has caused some of the worst tragedies since the beginning of mankind. Well, until Communism came along (I doubt it if the Catholic Church had 120 million people put to death in less than a century as Communism has). I am planning on writing a longer, much better researched post on this topic, so be on the look out in the near future for a great history of the corruption of the Catholic Church though out it's 2,000 year history and how it applies to our world today.
The power hungry will always look for ways to get more power and more money, and religion is a great way to accomplish this. Once you have become a member of a church, you have accepted the minister as your spiritual guide. So, you have already made up your mind that he is correct, and that you will follow his advice no matter what he says. So, when he says that certain people are going to Hell because they don't do exactly what he (supposedly) does, you will believe it.
The Catholic Church is one of the only two churches on Earth that can trace their heritage directly back to Jesus (the other being Greek Orthodox), so how exactly is your preacher right when he says that the church that Jesus created is wrong? Didn't your church break away and start doing things different from the way that Jesus said to do them? Oh, I'm wrong about that? What about the fact that Most Bibles have missing Books called the Apocrypha? And no, I'm not talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls. No Bible has never contained those. They were left out when the Council of Nicea decided which Christian Holy Books would be included in the Bible, which happened in 325 AD (I think). I am talking about books that were originally included, but where removed by Protestant reformers during the 17th Century.
Sure, in historical times the Catholic Church was used by the power hungry to oppress the masses and obtain more power. But the roles have now changed. The Catholic Church has now moved to the position that it should have held through history, and Protestant churches have become the centers of power and corruption.
How many times have you seen a preacher driving a Jaguar? I know I've seen many. Why do they need you to keep donating money? Where does it go? Why is it that they NEVER have money, and ALWAYS need you to give more?
At least with Catholic Priests, you know that they do not have a family to support, and so they are not worried about getting money to buy their wife a new BMW or needing to send their kids to college. They have taken a vow of poverty and chastity, and so are not worried about the things that money can buy. They know that if they forgo those things here on Earth, they will have a special place in Heaven. Your preacher, on the other hand, does not feel this way. And I've heard all of the arguments about priests being able to get married leading to them not molesting children. But thats not allowed today, and you complaining about it on this blog will do nothing but make you look like an idiot with no argument against what I have posted. So don't.
Th more that your preacher talks bad about the Catholic Church, the less likely it is that you will leave his church. If he can keep you there, he will get more money. The larger the congregation is, the more power he has. So, you see, everything is about money and power.
I'm not sure about other people, but I know that I have never heard ANY Catholic priests talk bad about anyone. The Pope says some things about homosexuality and abortion, but he usually says nothing about the people involved. "Hate the sin, not the sinner". Hating the sinner (or the Catholic, in this case) makes you no better than those idiots from Kansas that protest at soldiers funerals. The only difference is that they have taken the messages of your preacher to their inevitably violent ends. Do you really want to be associated with those dumbasses?
Now, I know that not all preachers are this way. There are some that are truly doing what they do because they feel like they have been called by God. But, the majority of the ones that I have come into contact with are exactly as I have described. And before you go off in a comment about how your preacher is the greatest thing on Earth and is only doing Gods bidding and is better than me, ask your self these questions:
- Does my preacher have a nice car, or is he driving an old beat up jalopy?
- Does my preacher's wife have nice jewelry? Nice clothes? A nice car? Are these things nicer than the average person's in my congregation?
- Is my preacher ALWAYS asking for more money? Does he let you see what he does with that money?
- Does my preacher ever talk bad about others? Why does he do this?
- Does my preacher tell us that the only way to get into Heaven is by doing what he does? Or does he let the Bible speak for itself? (hint: most have no idea what the TRUE meaning behind the Bible is)
As an example of preachers that are like this, please see:
- Jimmy Swaggart - frequent visits to prostitutes; lived the life of his cousins Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley (that he made a career railing against)
- Billy Graham - divorce; money whore
- Joel Olsteen - largest church in the country, makes million of dollars every year (what happened to "The meek will inherit the Earth?")
- Jerry Falwell - preached hate against homosexuals and Jews (kinda like Hitler did!)
- Jesse Jackson - racist; hate monger
- Al Sharpton - Tawana Brawly; racist; hate monger
- Jim Bakker - charged by the Federal Government with 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy
- Ted Haggard - preached hate against gays, but was let go from his position as pastor of New Life Church because of sexual relations with a male escort
- John Hagee - made claims in one of his books that Jesus is not the son of God
- Pat Robertson - claimed that Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake were done by God because people sin
All of these men claim(ed) to do Gods work and claim to be oh-so-holy, yet they lead lives completely at odds with everything the Bible says. Some did horrible things, and some merely followed the context of this post and did everything that they could to get more and more money. The seduction of power and money is great, and these men made the "best" of their situation in regards to these.
Remember, the only time that Jesus ever became angry was when the money changers were in the Temple. Sounds oddly similar to everything that has been described here.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Dinosaurs in the Bible
I love when people say that there are dinosaurs in the Bible. This cracks me up. Oh, you didn't know that there were dinosaurs in the Bible? They are, but they are called "dragons" instead. Let me fill you in....
Some of the most hard core, backwoods, fire and brimstone Evangelical Christians believe that there were dinosaurs in the Bible. They say that since the Earth is only 6,000 years old, the dinosaurs had to exist during the time of man. They ignore the fact that the people who wrote the Bible didn't know as much as we do today. But, this last statement is a topic for another day.
My first question is how did we have time to start agriculture, thus eventually forming cities, if there were dinosaurs chasing people around, trying to eat them? If this was the case, we wouldn't have had time to stop running long enough to plant anything, let alone to wait months and months for it to grow!
My second question about this is where are the stories about the dinosaurs? If they had Tyrannosaurus Rex running around, do you really think they would have been worried about the Romans? Do you really think that they would have waited for someone to get them out from under Caesar's rule, or maybe for the Dragon Slayer to come along and free them from the MAN EATING DINOSAURS?!?! If dinosaurs existed during the time that the Bible was being written, don't you think we would have stories that involved dinosaurs running in to town to eat people? People are small and slow compared to dinosaurs, so we would have made an easy snack. Especially once we started living in cities were we couldn't, or wouldn't, run away.
I can see the made-for-TV-movie-from-the-60s now:
People busily buying items in the market, Roman soldiers standing guard. Jesus walks into the picture and immediately starts being harassed by the guards. But wait! I think someone is screaming! What did they say? Dinosaurs are coming?!? Oh, no, not again! Quick Jesus! Perform a miracle and make sure that these poor people don't get eaten by the giant 25 foot tall dinosaur that somehow didn't make it into the Bible! Oh, those lepers? Don't worry about them. They will all be eaten by the dinosaurs soon since they are too sick to run away. We won't have to worry about them for much longer. They probably won't even be in the book that we write about you life in 200 years!
Wow, the gullibility of some people. If they would only take a few minutes to learn about history. And stop believing their preacher. HE IS NOT THE MESSENGER OF GOD, PEOPLE! HE ONLY SAYS THAT TO GET YOU TO KEEP GIVING HIM MONEY TO PAY FOR HIS 2 STORY HOUSE, HIS MERCEDES BENZ, AND HIS WIFE'S BOOB JOB!
One last thing. They say dinosaurs are in the Bible even though they are not mentioned by name (the Bible uses dragon, or tanniyn, since the word dinosaur wasn't in use until 1841). Well, where is the space shuttle listed? It's not in there either but going by this method, it should be. Maybe it was a donkey, or maybe Noah's ark. Someone please let me know so that I may spread the message to the rest of the world.
Some of the most hard core, backwoods, fire and brimstone Evangelical Christians believe that there were dinosaurs in the Bible. They say that since the Earth is only 6,000 years old, the dinosaurs had to exist during the time of man. They ignore the fact that the people who wrote the Bible didn't know as much as we do today. But, this last statement is a topic for another day.
My first question is how did we have time to start agriculture, thus eventually forming cities, if there were dinosaurs chasing people around, trying to eat them? If this was the case, we wouldn't have had time to stop running long enough to plant anything, let alone to wait months and months for it to grow!
My second question about this is where are the stories about the dinosaurs? If they had Tyrannosaurus Rex running around, do you really think they would have been worried about the Romans? Do you really think that they would have waited for someone to get them out from under Caesar's rule, or maybe for the Dragon Slayer to come along and free them from the MAN EATING DINOSAURS?!?! If dinosaurs existed during the time that the Bible was being written, don't you think we would have stories that involved dinosaurs running in to town to eat people? People are small and slow compared to dinosaurs, so we would have made an easy snack. Especially once we started living in cities were we couldn't, or wouldn't, run away.
I can see the made-for-TV-movie-from-the-60s now:
People busily buying items in the market, Roman soldiers standing guard. Jesus walks into the picture and immediately starts being harassed by the guards. But wait! I think someone is screaming! What did they say? Dinosaurs are coming?!? Oh, no, not again! Quick Jesus! Perform a miracle and make sure that these poor people don't get eaten by the giant 25 foot tall dinosaur that somehow didn't make it into the Bible! Oh, those lepers? Don't worry about them. They will all be eaten by the dinosaurs soon since they are too sick to run away. We won't have to worry about them for much longer. They probably won't even be in the book that we write about you life in 200 years!
Wow, the gullibility of some people. If they would only take a few minutes to learn about history. And stop believing their preacher. HE IS NOT THE MESSENGER OF GOD, PEOPLE! HE ONLY SAYS THAT TO GET YOU TO KEEP GIVING HIM MONEY TO PAY FOR HIS 2 STORY HOUSE, HIS MERCEDES BENZ, AND HIS WIFE'S BOOB JOB!
One last thing. They say dinosaurs are in the Bible even though they are not mentioned by name (the Bible uses dragon, or tanniyn, since the word dinosaur wasn't in use until 1841). Well, where is the space shuttle listed? It's not in there either but going by this method, it should be. Maybe it was a donkey, or maybe Noah's ark. Someone please let me know so that I may spread the message to the rest of the world.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Mathmatical Reason to Believe in God
I am a Christian. If you are reading this, you most likely are, as well. But, have you ever stopped to wonder WHY you are a Christian? Other than the fact that this is how you were raised? And I know, you say it's because of being able to get into Heaven, Jesus died for our sins, etc., but have you ever REALLY thought about it?
The reason that I ask is because I have. I have gone beyond the stories of the Bible and the lessons they try to teach us at church, and TRULY contemplated it. I even went so far as to question the existence of God. And you now what I came up with? A way to explain to people why you believe what you do, why you have faith in something/ someone that you can't see and that won't reveal himself.
This is the explanation that you SHOULD be giving to the people who question your faith:
There are only a few things about religion that we know for certain; that atheists, etc. will agree with us on. The relevant ones for this post are that there either is or is not a God, and that there either is or is not a Heaven. This leaves us with 4 options:
1.) We believe in God and there is a God
2.) We believe in God and there is no God
3.) We do not believe in God and there is no God
4.) We do not believe in God and there is a God
Option 1 (Believe; God) - this gets us into Heaven. This outcome is GOOD.
Option 2 (Believe; no God) - means that we do not go to Heaven, but also no Hell. So while it is not good it is not bad either, so for this argument that equals GOOD.
Option 3 (No Belief; no God) - gives the same outcome as option 2. Not good, but not bad, so technically GOOD.
Option 4 (No Belief; there is a God) - this sends you to Hell. So obviously, the outcome here is BAD.
So, what does all of this mean?
This means that by believing in God you have a 100% chance of a good outcome. (2 GOODS)
By not believing in God, you only have a 50% chance of a good outcome. (1 GOOD, 1 BAD)
I don't know about you, but to me a sure thing is a sure thing. If someone told you you had a 100% chance of meeting the person of your dreams tonight, don't you think you would go with them to the bar? If someone promised you that you had a 100% chance of winning the lottery, would you forget to buy a ticket? I sure wouldn't.
So next time that someone questions your faith, answer with this. No one that asks those types of questions wants you to preach to them, and they might actually listen to you if you answer them with reason instead of sounding like a religious extremist (that is how they view all of us, not just the true nut-cases).
Wouldn't it be nice to know that you actually got through to someone? Who knows, you might even convert a hardcore non-believer by using their own methods against them!
The reason that I ask is because I have. I have gone beyond the stories of the Bible and the lessons they try to teach us at church, and TRULY contemplated it. I even went so far as to question the existence of God. And you now what I came up with? A way to explain to people why you believe what you do, why you have faith in something/ someone that you can't see and that won't reveal himself.
This is the explanation that you SHOULD be giving to the people who question your faith:
There are only a few things about religion that we know for certain; that atheists, etc. will agree with us on. The relevant ones for this post are that there either is or is not a God, and that there either is or is not a Heaven. This leaves us with 4 options:
1.) We believe in God and there is a God
2.) We believe in God and there is no God
3.) We do not believe in God and there is no God
4.) We do not believe in God and there is a God
Option 1 (Believe; God) - this gets us into Heaven. This outcome is GOOD.
Option 2 (Believe; no God) - means that we do not go to Heaven, but also no Hell. So while it is not good it is not bad either, so for this argument that equals GOOD.
Option 3 (No Belief; no God) - gives the same outcome as option 2. Not good, but not bad, so technically GOOD.
Option 4 (No Belief; there is a God) - this sends you to Hell. So obviously, the outcome here is BAD.
So, what does all of this mean?
This means that by believing in God you have a 100% chance of a good outcome. (2 GOODS)
By not believing in God, you only have a 50% chance of a good outcome. (1 GOOD, 1 BAD)
I don't know about you, but to me a sure thing is a sure thing. If someone told you you had a 100% chance of meeting the person of your dreams tonight, don't you think you would go with them to the bar? If someone promised you that you had a 100% chance of winning the lottery, would you forget to buy a ticket? I sure wouldn't.
So next time that someone questions your faith, answer with this. No one that asks those types of questions wants you to preach to them, and they might actually listen to you if you answer them with reason instead of sounding like a religious extremist (that is how they view all of us, not just the true nut-cases).
Wouldn't it be nice to know that you actually got through to someone? Who knows, you might even convert a hardcore non-believer by using their own methods against them!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Welcome to Moderate Christian Rants!!!
The reason that I started this blog is to dispel the myths that some Christians like to propagate. I am a moderate Christian and a conservative libertarian.
I love to study religion. My parents sent me to a Catholic school as a child, and the messages that I learned there have stuck with me throughout my life. But, I am also very skeptical at times, which has caused me to ask many questions that the evangelicals would rather not have to answer. Example: when Cain left his family, he married someone from another tribe. If they were the only people, how did he find another person to marry? I have even watched videos on YouTube to try to find these types of answers, but their explanations are always full of holes and falsities.
I have personally looked into the ideas behind atheism, and I do not understand it. I will get into the reasons behind this in future posts, but for the time being suffice it to say that there is NOT enough evidence that God DOESN'T exist to prove anything. They make some very valid points involving science and the inaccuracies of the Bible, but this doesn't equal up to No God.
Thank you for reading my blog, and I look forward to many spirited conversations!
I love to study religion. My parents sent me to a Catholic school as a child, and the messages that I learned there have stuck with me throughout my life. But, I am also very skeptical at times, which has caused me to ask many questions that the evangelicals would rather not have to answer. Example: when Cain left his family, he married someone from another tribe. If they were the only people, how did he find another person to marry? I have even watched videos on YouTube to try to find these types of answers, but their explanations are always full of holes and falsities.
I have personally looked into the ideas behind atheism, and I do not understand it. I will get into the reasons behind this in future posts, but for the time being suffice it to say that there is NOT enough evidence that God DOESN'T exist to prove anything. They make some very valid points involving science and the inaccuracies of the Bible, but this doesn't equal up to No God.
Thank you for reading my blog, and I look forward to many spirited conversations!
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