religiousragings:

Anon asked:

This is honest to God (Haha, Irony) curiosity, not an attack or anything, and I’d like to remain anon. How is Jesus saying that all the past laws are invalid bullshit?

Because Jesus makes it ABUNDANTLY clear in many passages that all of the old laws still apply.  This is an excerpt from a website called evilbible.com.  While this is, admittedly, a biased site.  Nevertheless, the passages are there for everyone to see.

1) “For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished.  Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:18-19 RSV)  Clearly the Old Testament is to be abided by until the end of human existence itself.  None other then Jesus said so.

2) All of the vicious Old Testament laws will be binding forever.  ”It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid.”  (Luke 16:17 NAB)

3) Jesus strongly approves of the law and the prophets.  He hasn’t the slightest objection to the cruelties of the Old Testament.  ”Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.  Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.”  (Matthew 5:17 NAB)

3b) “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”  (2 Timothy 3:16 NAB)

3c) “Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.” (2 Peter 20-21 NAB)

4) Jesus criticizes the Jews for not killing their disobedient children according to Old Testament law.  Mark.7:9-13  ”Whoever curses father or mother shall die”  (Mark 7:10 NAB)

5) Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating.  He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the commandment: “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.”  (Matthew 15:4-7)

6) Jesus has a punishment even worse than his father concerning adultery: God said the act of adultery was punishable by death. Jesus says looking with lust is the same thing and you should gouge your eye out, better a part, than the whole.  The punishment under Jesus is an eternity in Hell.  (Matthew 5:27)

7) Peter says that all slaves should “be subject to [their] masters with all fear,” to the bad and cruel as well as the “good and gentle.”  This is merely an echo of the same slavery commands in the Old Testament. 1 Peter 2:18

8) “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law” (John7:19) and “For the law was given by Moses,…” (John 1:17).

9) “…the scripture cannot be broken.” —Jesus Christ, John 10:35

religiousragings:

krzyxx replied to your post:Please never let it be said that I ever pulled my punches with regard to Islam

ever consider that “holy texts” are metaphorical?

Some were meant metaphorically.  Some were meant literally.  Some people treat the entire books as metaphors.  Some treat the entire books as absolute truth and take them absolutely literally.

With some Christians, those passages that are “metaphorical” are the ones that they don’t agree with and they can’t explain them any other way.

Some passages make no sense as metaphors.  When God commands the Israelites to slaughter entire cities, what could this be a metaphor for other than the fact that God is a dick.  These passages were meant to be taken literally to inspire fear in people and to be awed by the power of God and of Israel.

When Jesus smote the fig tree because it didn’t give fruit during a time when the fruit wasn’t in season, this could have been a metaphor, designed to show people Jesus’s true power.  To any thinking person this also indicates that Jesus was a bad-tempered moron, but I guess that the writer of this story didn’t consider it from that angle.

The Creation?  Again, this makes no sense as a metaphor.  It was meant to be believed literally, probably under the assumption that we’ll never really know how the world was created and that this explanation was as good as anyone else’s.  People have been taking it literally for thousands of years now.

Beyond that, with no guidelines as to what is metaphor and what was meant to be taken literally, people will continue to take them literally.

I don’t know the Quran nearly as well, but passages such as Sura 8, Verse 12 - God revealed His will to the angels, saying: “I shall be with you. Give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers.”  The context here really doesn’t help matters at all.  It reads as if it was meant to be taken very literally, and if it wasn’t, it’s a rather dangerous metaphor to leave lying around.

This is a really relevant post to me because none of the theists in my life are creationists and are of the view that the Bible was written by man and is flawed. I recently saw a theist guy I have fallen out with say that the devil is actually just a metaphor, along with the creation story. And I was just thinking.. well if the devil is a metaphor, why not go one step further and say that GOD is a metaphor? And then a step further from that and realize that this metaphorical god doesn’t actually exist? I don’t know. I don’t understand how some people use logic in their heads.

deconversionmovement:

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

 ¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

 ¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

 ¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

 ²⁰ The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:12-21

Some portions of this passage are bolded to outline the doctrine of original sin.  The doctrine can be best understood by the words “sin entered the world through one man.”  However, due to the myths of other cultures (i.e. Enuma Elish) and due — in greater part — to the Theory of Evolution, it is fairly simple to conclude that the man of original sin — Adam — did not exist.  It is important to note that there are Christians who no longer accept the Creation myth in Genesis, but still accept the supposed redemptive power of the sacrifice of Christ.  Well, how can one not accept the original sinner, but accept the redeemer?  It’s illogical and thus, Christians who have adjusted their beliefs in such a manner are automatically discredited by the question alone.  On the other hand, there are Christians who still believe the Creation myth to be true.  However, how can they reject the parallels this myth has with that of other cultures?  Moreover, how can they reject the Theory of Evolution — a theory that has substantial evidences in many respective fields of science?

There are only two conclusions:  1)  If there was no original sinner, as the evidence strongly suggests, Jesus Christ died for nothing because there was no original sin due to the absence of an original sinner.  2)  Jesus Christ did not exist because the original sinner did not exist.  If there is no original sinner (the first Adam), then there is no need for a redeemer — “the last Adam” as 1 Corinthians 15:45 would posit.  Ultimately, both conclusions destroy Christianity at its core.  If Christ existed, he died for nothing and the message of salvation is reduced to an abstraction.  If he didn’t exist, then the entire basis of Christianity is ripped from its roots.  This is indeed the final nail in the cross. 

constantlyalex:

“I could not handle being in a Christian environment because I felt everyone was being manipulated and used in the dirtiest of ways, but especially those of us in female bodies. Cismen were constantly telling me how to dress, behave, live my life in the name of “saving me.” “You have to cover your bodies, girls, to protect our boys.” Boobs are not bombs. You don’t need protecting. I do. I need protecting from the relentless bullshit pushed at me. I need protecting from the boys who grabbed my ass in the hallways because “boys will be boys”, from the girls who lived to tell me to pull my shirt up, from the Bible teacher that told us that he feels we should “Go back to the Old Testament ways,” meaning we should stone anyone that finds themselves pregnant and not married, and from my classmates that nodded their heads and agreed with him.

When I was being fed lies everyday, I hated myself. I felt guilty the first time I got my period. Bodies of all kinds were dirty, but female bodies were a whole other level. Slowly, I started rebelling in quiet ways, always making sure that technically I couldn’t be expelled. Because they wanted so much for us to think that we chose their ways. “Accepting Jesus into your heart is a personal decision.” Except it wasn’t. The illusion of choice is so easy to fall into. When you are stuck in an environment that “encourages healthy spiritual debates,” you want to feel you are thinking for yourself, but what comes out of your mouth is only what has been shoved down your throat. The whole thing is sickening.”

(Source: mx-monet-the-fab)

religiousragings:

If he ever even existed.

He’s not up in the clouds watching you.

He’s not putting on his blood dipped robes getting ready to come down for a final judgement.

You are not talking to him telepathically.  The person you are talking to is imaginary.

You don’t have a personal relationship with him.  You are having a personal relationship your idea of him.  You are in fact having a personal relationship with an idea with imaginary attributes encompassed entirely within your own mind.

He supposedly said “Surely I come quickly”.  It’s now been 2000 years.  If the Biblical accounting of time is accurate (it isn’t), this is fully one third of the entire age of the universe.  Even a god with a different sense of time would have to realize that he’s stretched the definition of “quickly” beyond any reasonable bounds by now.

He is dead.

He’s not coming back.

Ever.