TEST RELIGION - PUT FAITH CLAIMS TO THE TEST

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In the big picture, is faith in God, revelation from God and prayer worth it?

Do you think of how challenging superstition or faith protects many vulnerable people?

If people do good because they are human and not because God prompts them then is it right to risk giving God any credit when they alone own their good?

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Lesson of the Week

JESUS IS A WEAPON NOT A ROLE MODEL

Considering how people who have benefited handsomely financially, politically and socially from going along with Christianity are saying, “Jesus would this and Jesus would that”, I wish to ask them did Jesus give them permission to speak for him? Can they tell us why they can be the mouth of Jesus and not Henry VIII. Don't see people queuing up to manipulate Muhammad's memory like that! As a Jew who was under Roman occupation Jesus should not be spoken for by those who are not even of his race. It is sick to use a man who died on a cross that way. Christians have no right to use a person of the Jewish religion or race for their own ends. And especially when it is a race that has suffered hate from Christianity from the very start. And Christianity got power by demonising Jewish leaders and hijacking their scriptures to distort them and use them against them. Liberal Christianity had a huge role in what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany.

Too many use their ideal version of Jesus to try and silence others and to manipulate them.

Is Jesus only respected because his followers are not really followers for they know little about him or is it that they are happy to idolise a bad model of holiness? There is an egotism in saying that your god is the best or the perfect one and that you are in a position to assess for you are so smart and good. To say your God is perfect is you indirectly boasting about yourself.

If you are in a position to judge Jesus as the perfect role model then you must be even more perfect for you are claiming to be in a position to judge. The humility of Christianity is really arrogant self-aggrandizement. The God you adore can be seen in the mirror.

These are the things you have to ignore by calling mysteries if you want to believe in Jesus.

He did say ethnocentric things if you read how he said he came only for those of the house of Israel in Matthew 15:24 and said he will not give the bread of the children of Israel to dogs in Matthew 15:26. Of course against this are texts that say the gospel is to be preached to all but are they the truth? The possibility remains that they are not. If Jesus changed his mind on racism he was still a racist one time. It is not right to risk putting forward a potential racist as the precious son of God. The racist Jesus is the real Jesus for the racism of the Old Testament did not stop him saying it was scripture and scripture cannot be broken or wrong (John 10:35).

Jesus did teach a magical view of prayer and exaggerated how powerful it is. He meant it literally as we can see from Luke 17:6 when he speaks of a bush that is to be moved by faith. Christians take such promises about prayer as figurative for it is obvious that you cannot move a mountain by faithful prayer. That is not an honest approach for it denies that Jesus could have meant it literally and ignores the context if it sets a literal interpretation. The honest thing to do is just to say it is wrong. Jesus was not the only one selling dreams and will not be the last - listening Louise Hay?

His rioting in the Temple - some authorities think that he did it at the start of his ministry (gospel of John) and also at the end of it (Mark, Matthew and Luke). The Jews in the aftermath decided to have him killed as they were afraid of him. The problem was "the whole crowd was driven to madness [exeplesseto] by his teaching."

His telling a woman that her daughter was the same as a dog.

His telling a vulnerable frightened woman that she deserved to be stoned to death. He made her sweat to punish her for adultery and told her not to sin again instead of telling the mob to leave sinners alone in future.

His threat that anybody who does not believe will be damned as if you can control what you believe that much!

His not repudiating the violence of his God in the Old Testament. He was careful when dealing with the adulteress who was in danger of getting stoned not to say that stoning her would be inherently wrong. He admitted that from his black heart she deserved it.

Jesus lied about saving us for the average Christian is no better or worse than anybody in Jesus' day who he said had no saviour and needed salvation.

His resurrection was a cheat for the main point is it shows salvation from death by giving eternal life but an empty tomb and a few days of visions does not amount to a case for saying that a man can live forever. Jesus could have stopped appearing for he died again. It is like somebody showing you a wallet full of money and saying its evidence or an indication that he really has a billion pounds in the bank. It's a lie.

And there is much much more.

Christianity excuses things such as hate at times by saying human nature is weak and hate is not a sin then. There are enough loopholes to mean the faith is nothing special. But do not forget that the loopholes would apply to Jesus as a man as well. Thus they are complete hypocrites by pretending that they know that Jesus was all-loving.

Jesus was a fake saviour and thus to blame for the evil done by his religion in his name for they had reasonable grounds to regard that evil as authorised by him.

THE ROLE MODEL FOR SUFFERING PEOPLE?

Theologians today usually find the notion of Jesus having to pay for our sins as in atone for them ridiculous. God can simply forgive. And if God punishes Jesus in our place it follows that we do not really get forgiveness for that is not what he intends to give. There is no evidence that Jesus really was a happy person and his deliberately refusing to hide on the night of his arrest when he guessed he would be crucified and his provocative answers during his trial show that his intention was to be suicidal and bring crucifixion on himself. The negativity and hatred expressed by Jesus towards sin and the world and the Pharisees turned him into a man who badly wanted to escape from this world. People want to use Jesus as a case against big things such as abortion, same sex marriage and euthanasia. My point is that if somebody wants to use Jesus as a case against euthanasia they are doomed to expose themselves as liars. Jesus supposedly suffering to give meaning to all suffering. Sorry suffering is the loss of meaning among other things so there is no such thing as giving meaning to suffering! Even if there was a huge risk of losing meaning when you suffer and this is unavoidable for many the doctrine is cruel and passive aggressive. Feeling that somebody else has suffered even a God has no magical power to help you. It can make you feel worse and indeed should for you don’t want to make everything about you.

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