[A REAL LIFE
STORY UNFOLDS]
Have
you experienced the sting of an event or moment in life that
brought such agony that you will probably never forget? Mine was
looking into the heartbroken, grieving eyes of my cousin
and his wife at the funeral home. They had just tragically
witnessed the gruesome accident and death of their beloved
infant child a few days prior. You know that there would be
nothing that you could say that would comfort them. I wanted to
show support by being with them at a most difficult time.
I
had been an ex-minister for less than a year at the time of the
funeral. I had never told them about my leaving the faith and I
wasn’t sure if anyone else had told them either. Knowing what
I knew about the ministry, I hurt inside knowing that my
relatives would be getting worthless “Christian” answers to
comfort them. People mean well, but I know that the bible’s
answers bring about more questions, and causes more pain than
comfort. Ministers know of many Christian people who are
“angry with God” because something has happened to the
individual that they felt was unfair or unjust from the hand of
god. Wise people understand that when a child is BAD often the
reason is because that inside they are MAD at something. Their
outward bad behavior is actively expressing that they are mad
inside.
Why
would God allow,
cause or permit
such a horrible
event to take
place?
From
my viewpoint, my relatives were from great families, were devout
Christians, and were good natured people. In no way would they
be subjects of God’s chastisement. Obviously, coming from a
Christian perspective you would want to know why God would
allow, cause or permit such a horrible event to take place?
Since God is in control then he had to give permission for
this….right? God is sovereign, isn’t he? A biblical example
would be the story of Job.
Is God that desperate
for attention or for glorification?
I
will ask some rhetorical questions here. How would God be
glorified in a situation like this? Is God that desperate for
attention or glorification that he needs to be cruel and or
unfair to attain it? Why would God give the gift of life and
take it away so quickly? There is probably no situation or event
that would be more difficult for a Christian minister to deal
with than a situation something like this. As an exminister, I
saw how cruel the God of the bible was to two very special
people by taking away their child. The God of the bible didn’t
have to allow this to happen!
Chapter
and Verse proof: God confesses to beating his sheep!
There is another type of cruelty from God towards
my relatives (or for any Christian) involved here. It is a
rather subjective topic about the matter of God chastising his
children. Subjective in interpretation to those who are suddenly
in the midst of suffering. Ministers use this text when they
need it. Ministers use this when a member doesn’t tithe or
give or is in opposition or rebellion to whatever that minister
is trying to accomplish. You need to read Hebrews chapter 12 to
try to get an understanding of this biblical concept.
Hebrews
12: 5 – 8 (KJV)
5. And ye have
forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as children,
MY SON, DESPISE NOT THOU THE
CHASTENING OF THE LORD, NOR
FAINT WHEN THOU ART REBUKED OF
HIM.
6. FOR WHOM THE LORD LOVETH HE
CHASTTENETH, AND SCOURGETH EVERY
SON WHOM HE RECEIVETH.
7. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as sons; for
what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not?
8. But if ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then ye are bastards,
and not sons.
God
will get to beat
you sometime in
your life, that
is if he doesn't
decide to kill
you
According to the bible, God will “get you” if you “get out
of line with him”. This is what the verse 7 just told you
“for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?". Did
you know that someone calculated the number of people that the
God of the bible had killed within the covers of the bible
itself. The conservative estimate was a staggering 32.9 million
people had been killed! This is an excellent article posted by
Steve Wells,
here is the link for you to examine.
The
most cruel example that I'm aware of is that God had 2 she bears
come from out of the woods and kill 42 little children because
these children had mocked Elisha for having a bald head (2 Kings
2: 23-24). I'm laughing at the absurdity of this and cry because
of cruelty and thirst for blood that the God of the bible has
towards people. I'm embarrassed that I once taught others that
the bible is the word of god. God is a brutal murderer! Can he
not take a joke about some little kids mocking his prophet?
Christians
are ashamed about this teaching
Biblical
apologists would cringe if you introduced this subject at such a
delicate time of grief like my relatives had. I agree with their
feelings and feel it would be totally inappropriate as well. One
thing that is evident here is that Christians are ashamed about
this biblical teaching about God chastising his children. If
they were not ashamed then they could mention it at anytime. But
being ashamed and ignoring it doesn’t lessen the burden for
any Christian whom has had something horrible happen to them.
Put yourself in their shoes. You just suffered a horrible time,
and every Christian that you know has heard their preacher
preach a sermon from this Hebrews text. Imagine what they must
be thinking about you? Once again I will introduce a few
rhetorical questions here. What did they do to deserve this? It
must be pretty bad? Will they learn from this experience and get
right with God? Can they look you in the eye again and not think
about this? Or worse yet, they will pity you!
Advice
to currently suffering Christians
Christians that read this know exactly what I am
writing of. Those outside of faith must think that this is a
“very sick” thought process and I would agree with them.
Now, let me speak to any Christian whom has suffered some
horrible or difficult times. Forget about what you think that
someone else must or could be thinking about your case, if you
can. First, who can know the mind of God (his thought
processes)? God’s only sure communication to mankind was the
bible and you weren’t around when the bible was being written.
So whatever happened to you has no paper trail in the bible, if
you know what I mean (you came along 2,000 years later). Even if
you were “out of God’s will” (let us suppose that my
relatives were) and God did decide to chastise them. Was your
“crime” as bad as taking someone's life? Probably not! Then
your god of the bible lacks good judgment for not making your
punishment fit your crime! God must have gotten carried away in
his anger and lost control of his judgment. Even if you go by
Old Testament standards like and “eye for an eye” the god of
the bible isn’t fair in his dealings and quite harsh!
According
to your bible, God allowed this to happen to you.
I try to make people think with most everything that I write.
There are untold number of incidents that happen to Christian
people around the world daily. And whenever something “bad”
happens to a Christian it cannot be a coincidence since God
controls by providence what happens to his people. Since
coincidence is ruled out of the equation then there is no other
choice except for that Christian to find out what the reason
behind this bad event happening to you. Dear Christian, from the
ex-ministers perspective you should want to appease the anger of
God by avoiding whatever makes him angry to prevent future
chastisement. Or, you should await the future blessings that you
will receive for God using you like he did since you did nothing
wrong. For example, Job for his long suffering! Once again, the
exminister notices that people have to wait for another false
promise that should be fulfilled like Job’s was BEFORE he died
so that he gets to enjoy it while they live here on earth! Who
is kidding who, we all know that the “spin masters” who
wrote the bible use the book for control of people who are
willing to be enslaved by the bible’s contents. Just another
example of cruel and bad psychology of the bible.
Someone
needs to knock
that smiley face
facade off of
your cruel
religion!
Is that Christian in the molding process like a
piece of pottery? Are they being chastised for something that
they did that God didn’t approve of? All the Christian
apologist can say at these times is (we don’t know) and this
is a very convenient answer for them but woefully insufficient
as an explanation. We both know that Christianity doesn’t have
the answer. It is perfectly OK for Christianity to leave a
couple like my relatives “twisting in the wind” with some
believers feeling God’s providence or chastisement is at work
upon those in grief. People like me feel that someone needs to
knock that smiley face facade off of your cruel religion!
Christianities
answer for times like these?
Christianities
two most useful “escape plans” are to act as if they
didn’t hear and avoid whatever threatens them (ignore); and
throw up their hands and say that they do not know the answer to
whatever threatens them (ignorance). Yes, very convenient and
effective for people who are sheep like. But what about those of
us who demand a reasonable explanation? They are often told by
their minister or leader that they will have to get back to
them. This is just another form of their avoidance and IF THEY
EVER GET BACK to you they still won’t have a sufficient answer
for someone who isn’t sheep like. You can be waiting a very
long time for their reply. Tell them you will withhold your
tithe and offering money until they answer you! (Humor)
Reasonable people see the big picture here. Simply stated the
bible isn’t divine, far from it. The bible is full of made up
stories, bad psychology and a great cover for those with
character issues of their own. If these people (Christian
leaders) had character they would resign their positions and
find an honorable way to make a living.
Christianity
isn’t
true,
doesn’t
work
in
real
life
and
unworthy
of
acceptance!
Now
for you dear Christian! What in the world are you waiting for?
In real life Christianity doesn’t work. The bible is just
plain old bad literature and dangerous when used as a psychology
text! Did you join Christianity for God to look after your well
being? Now you know that God is actively viewing your behavior
and you are subject to chastisement when you do wrong things.
Your minister doesn’t have the answers to real life
situations. They are just hoping that you “keep putting money
in the plate” and don’t ask too many or the wrong type of
questions. Go ahead ask one to them as a test, then notice their
response to it. This time, don’t be a gullible sheep when they
give you that same old insufficient line. You must get past this
mentality of “God will get you” because God won’t get you.
God won’t get you because who is to say that there is a God
out their anyway? The great secret out there is that their
isn’t any God out there like the bible describes.
If you have made it this far in your journey then you can begin
to understand why I and all the other ex-ministers in the world
left Christianity. Ex-ministers who left for intellectual
reasons have a heart for people and for good conscious reasons
won’t subject you as a pawn to this organized chess game.
Christianity isn’t worth anymore of your time, talent or
money. If you haven’t done so already, read the link on my
website on “How Religion Robs People”. You can stay in
Christianity and be a sheep (I call it you choosing to be a
victim), or choose freedom from religion and go out and enjoy
life!
