This is a
continuation of my compiled writings against Christianity. If you wish to
return to the Introduction, Complete table of contents or somewhere else,
surely there’s a link for them somewhere on this page. If
you’re here by accident and don’t wish to stay – then I
didn’t want you here anyway and you now have a new computer virus….
Table of Contents for this page…
Introduction. 1
Satan, Evil & Mankind. 3
A
Satan. 3
B.
Mankind. 5
B.1 Free Will 8
Satan,
Evil & Mankind
A
Satan
We
know from the bible that Satan, an angel, was created by god. By creating
Satan, god, being omniscient, knew that Satan would eventually turn on him.
Not only would Satan turn on him but he would take 1/3 of the angels with
him. From this, there are a number of questions that rise up. First, why
would god create Satan knowing that he would take 1/3 of the angels in
rebellion, not to mention torment the world to come with evil and malice?
Even if god needed company, certainly, since god is omnipotent and
omniscient, he would be able to create only those angels that would serve
him earnestly and in love. Knowing those that will serve, love and obey
versus those that will rebel and hate, why create the later?
Second,
how could god create Satan? How could the most benevolent and righteous
being ever give birth to the most malefic being ever? After all,
A good
tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit.
Even
so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth
forth evil fruit. (MTH 7:17)
Satan
certainly cannot be categorized as good fruit, so is god a corrupt tree? Mathew
tells us:
Yes,
the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is
produced. (MTH 7:20).
Looking
at it in that fashion, what are we to make of god, who produced Satan, his
demons, Hitler, Dalmer, Manson – that seems like pretty bad fruit. It
has been said that god did not create evil fruit, just a fruit capable of
turning evil, i.e. god created Satan as a good being but then Satan turned
evil. This is really an invalid response for a number of reasons.
First, god created Satan knowing that Satan would be evil, thereby
knowingly creating evil or its proliferation. Playing semantics does not
help, and there are biblical verses that verbatim state that god creates
evil. Isaiah 45:7 “I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all
these things.” Lamentations 3:38 “Dost not out of the mouth of the most High
proceedeth evil and good?” Jeremiah 18:11 “Thus saith the Lord;
Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you.”
It seems highly opposing for a book to state that a good tree can’t
produce evil fruit, while its base is on an all-good god that creates the
most evil fruit.
A
third riddle with the genesis episode is Satan’s rebellion and
departure. God reigns in heaven, the most wondrous place possible.
God is also loving, merciful and benevolent. So why would anyone wish to
leave or rebel against that (especially considering a mass departure like
the 33% that left god)? Furthermore, god is omnipotent, so anyone that
would rebel is sure to meet destruction. When faced with the choice between
a beautiful home, splendor and plenty versus certain doom at the hand of
the almighty, even the most simple-minded cretin would choose the
former. Yet, we are supposed to believe that the same Satan that is
biblically depicted as cunning and shrewd chose to face certain defeat?
A
fourth matter against the Satan scenario: why would god wait to squelch the
rebellion? After all, god is the mightiest being and he has at his disposal
2/3 of the second mightiest beings. This would definitely be an easy
victory, yet he allows the rebellion to continue and for Satan and his
former angels, now demons, to run free. The logic falters and we have yet
to get to the big questions of humanity. Righteousness could not stand by
and allow wickedness to roam liberated, yet we are told this is what
happens and continues to happen. We are told that god will eventually
bind Satan in the end times, though it begs the question, why not
sooner? How congruent is it that god not only allows the biblically
expressed “murderer” and “lion seeking whom he may
devour” to freely roam and successfully tempt Adam, but to thrive in
the world of his treasured children and lead to billions of damnations?
In addressing
the question of exactly why Satan persists, the apologist Lloyd Ecrement
writes:
Perhaps the reason might
well be expressed in the words the Lord asked Moses to say to wicked
Pharaoh: “For by now I could have put forth my hand and struck you
and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the
earth; but for this purpose have I let you live, to show you my power, so
that my name may be declared throughout all the Earth” (Exodus
9:15-16) [1961, p. 33].
This
is a ridiculous assertion. By creating evil, allowing evil to continue and
to torment people, it’s showing the power of god? If god wanted to
show his power then annihilate evil – I would be impressed. By
allowing Satan to continue, it directly leads to the eternal damnation of
millions, the agony of the already tormented, and the injustice, cruelty
and malevolence that pervades the world. Is that the power of god, or the
will of god? If so, then what a wicked god!
Evil
is not a sign of god’s power but a sign of god’s limitations.
It is the effort of the Christian to attribute the undeniable evil and
continuance thereof to the inexplicable, greater purpose of god.
Inexplicable because there is nothing else that they can say to justify or
logically rationalize the evil that continues in the world. In order to
perpetuate their beliefs, they will rely on their faith before their
thoughts. That is also the mark of Islam and many other religions. I
should not limit or stamp it solely upon Christianity, because I have heard
the same from Muslims. People of faith rely upon “because it is
god’s will” or “because it will work out for a greater
purpose as directed by god”. The attributes of blind acceptance
and continual reinforcement without critical thought are staples in
religious thought; such mentality has led to human ovens (Christian work
before the Nazis), witch hunts, terrorist cells, crusades and holy wars. If
many religions have faith as their basis and they cannot justify
evil’s continual existence except to say that it is for a
“greater purpose” – then how are we to know which religion
is right, if any religion at all?
Some apologists suggest that Satan’s continued existence is
in place to allow god opportunities to act on our behalf. This
solicits a couple of responses. The first is that it affords opportunities
but those opportunities are not acted upon. People die of hunger every
hour! Someone is murdered every hour! Someone is raped every hour! Millions
are blind, millions are hurting, deformed, and so on. But god does not act
upon these opportunities. Why? Is it because these people do not believe in
the right dogma? God knew that they wouldn’t – and if god did
act upon these opportunities many of them would believe! Disregarding the
heathen, Christians suffer from the same fates and illnesses, and their
rates of healing are no larger than those of other religions. If the
Christian god does allow evil in order to grant himself opportunities to
aid, why wouldn’t he do so? Why doesn’t the Christian god stand
out?
You can commonly hear Christians spouting out things like
“god will not put anything on us that we cannot handle”. But
when things are put on Christians and they aren’t able to handle it
– if they die – then it was “their time to go, god was
calling them home”. If they are not healed, then “it is not
god’s will for them to be healed”. If they forsake their
beliefs, then “Satan is deceiving them and getting the best of
them”. What happen to “god would not put anything on us that we
could not bare”? Copouts and evasions a flurry – another staple
of religion.
Even if we took this conjecture as true, what does it say about god
if he did create and allow Satan free rein so that He can have the
“opportunity” to help us? If a man makes another sick,
then heals him – should he be praised or condemned? If a person
sets a trap for another, then rescues them from their peril, is it
compassion or malice?
When
it comes to Satan, the demons and the rise of evil, we must ask ourselves
whether the biblical scenario of god and Satan is truth or fiction.
Consider the prevalence and tendency for people in ancient times to
establish myths and religions with a mighty being betrayed and at war with
an evil being. (Later, similarities between the rudiments of Christianity
and pre-Christian religions will be shown, which makes one wonder whether
we are not just perpetuating the evolution of a myth.) Gods were needed to
explain the world at large. Lightning, earthquakes, existence itself was
frightening and supreme beings made for quick and needed explanations. But
as critical thought developed and scientific inquiry expanded our
paradigms, the mystical explanations fell by the wayside to the
environmental, physical explanations of nature. So why do we continue to
hold onto the unneeded mystics of religion, but for the natural fear of
death and people’s egocentric need for immortality and purpose in the
universe? We are so important to an all-loving god that millions of
us find death by starvation and disease each year? That brings us to the
next point, us.
B. Mankind
God
had now created and unleashed evil on the macrocosm, which affected only
god and his angels until he decided to create man. Now, god could create
man in a safe haven and place him away from evil and Satan, but
doesn’t. Why would god place man, His cherished and innocent
children, into the possession of His betrayer and arch nemesis?
Satan’s presence is not needed for free will! Adam and Eve
still would have had the same choice, without, however, the deciding factor
of pressure and enticement from the satanic serpent. Could it be because
god knew that Adam and Eve would take from the tree of knowledge of good
and evil? Could god have wanted them to perish according to His set
of rules for which he knew they would falter under? His theoretical
omniscience would certainly indicate so. After their failure, god
then damns Adam and Eve. Though they are not alone; he damns each and
every generation to come as well. Why would a loving and merciful god
create people in a place where he knows that they will succumb to rebellion
and be forever damned? God allowed Satan’s entrance and unrestrained
roaming in the garden though he knows the consequence.
In
absurdity, god then condemns and punishes serpents, since that is the form
Satan selected for his deceit. I am certain that bears, dogs and all other
animals are quite happy Satan did not disguise himself as one of them!
Consider the snail. Slow, slimy belly crawlers that are frequently torched
by the afternoon sun on sidewalks, and thrown on to hot pavement by
adolescents eager to hear them pop! Can you imagine what the life of a
snail would be like, if Satan had chosen it as his disguise? For
millennia serpents have been symbolic of mysticism. Serpents are
dangerous, creepy animals that have slithered into the dread of people
ancient and present. It is no wonder that it can be found in the passages
of numerous legends and religions. And is it any small surprise that the
bad guy in the Bible is also a snake?
It
also makes you wonder about Adam and Eve, doesn’t it? One day a snake
starts speaking to them and they don’t think anything of it! Yes, I
can just hear Eve talking to the serpent “Eat the fruit of the tree,
huh? You know, if this were coming from a talking tortoise, I
wouldn’t even think about it. But since you’re a
snake…”
Adam
and Eve were certainly naïve. They were born into a world that
held no sin (by humans anyway). They had no knowledge of right and wrong,
good or evil. How could they, since they hadn’t taken from the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, yet? How could they have known that
disobedience was evil? How could they have known that evil was
lurking and tempting them – when they didn’t know what evil nor
temptation was? Think about the threat god made to man. If you
eat of the tree – thou shalt surely die! What is death to a
newly created being that has never seen someone die, nor has knowledge of
death? The ridiculousness of the story builds and builds. It is
interesting to note the parallels between Greek mythology and the
bible. In both, you find dubious deception leading to downfalls of
mankind, trees with the supernatural granting of knowledge of good and
evil, etc.
So
here we are, the damned descendents of Adam and Eve. Though, it certainly
makes you wonder about
Ezekiel 18:20:
"The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father."
and
The LORD gives righteousness and
justice to all who are treated unfairly. PS 103:6.
I
want my shot at the garden! We were born into a world or callused
sin, greed, murder, pollution and starvation. I would say we
certainly bear the iniquity of Adam. Where’s the justice in being
created into a world of pain and sin? Then consider the justice of being
created for eventual damnation and the eternal torment of hell. God knew
those that would never believe and yet he creates them anyway. There is no
choice for the child born Muslim or Hindu or atheist. There is no choice at
all if you think about it, as the later section discusses. When a child is
taught to believe in Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva and to love the true and holy
Vedas – did he knowingly choose hell for his eternal resting place?
No. When approached thirty years later by a Christian missionary, is he
supposed to drop his long held beliefs due to the clarity and logic (as we
have seen so far) of Christianity? What about ten years after that?
And for this, he deserves to burn in hell?
I
think the bible had it right in Deuteronomy 5:9, Exodus 34:6-7 and Exodus
20:5 stating "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation." (Though this seems to contradict the earlier verse in
Ezekiel 18:20, where we are assured that the son does not bear the iniquity
of his father, weird...)
Why
would god create man, knowing the pain they will endure, the insolence they
will procure and the demise of millions in the eternal torment of hell?
Because he needed an audience for his might and splendor, like Romans
suggests?
Hath not
the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath,
and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction. (KJV)
When a potter makes jars out of clay,
doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for
decoration and another to throw garbage into?
He also has the right to pour out the riches of
his glory upon those he prepared to be the objects of his mercy
– (New Living Trans.)
If
this is the case, then god is sickening. He creates some for nobler
purposes and some for displays of his wrath. Some as decoration, some for
garbage disposal, truly what a picture of mercy and love! If this is the
case, then god is not all-good, and no where close to good. He creates some
beings so that he might show his power and might, and others that will
enjoy his love and splendor. What a concept! Who is god trying to impress with
his objects of wrath? If he is the almighty, does he have to prove
anything? If an adult beats a child to show his power and wrath, we call
him a beast, a putrid idiot of cowardice. But when it is god, then he is
the loving, righteous almighty?
Romans, and many Christians alongside, ask
“Who are we to judge the maker, god?” Well, if we are those
lumps of clay created for destruction, as garbage disposals, then we have
every right to judge. Should the beaten son have any right to judge the abusive
father? Then consider that it matters not whether we judge. The bible
tells us to “judge not lest you be judged”, but we are also
told that each of us will be judged. Secondly, we’re also told that
god will have mercy on whomever he wants to have mercy and he will destroy
whomever he wants to destroy. If you are created for destruction and you do
not judge, well good for you, but you still get destroyed. After all,
as Romans 8 and Ephesians 1:11 tell us “For whom He foreknew, He also
predestined..” and “In Him also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works
all things according to the counsel of His will..” If god wants it,
it is destined to happen… kind of like the tempting and fall of Adam
or the damnation of billions!
B.1
Free Will
One
of the most commonly used terms by apologists today for matters of evil and
existence is “free will”. Many Christians tell us that
god created us separate from the angels so that we may have free will to
choose him or not. They seem to forget that god already created Satan and
the demons with free will. They must have had a choice, because they chose
to rebel and leave god. God evidently did not learn from that experience,
and men are created with “choice” and “free will”.
But this is not free will, it is forced will. It is not free love, it is
forced love. God tells us to believe in him and obey him and we will have
great riches in heaven, or not believe and we will be tormented, tortured
and in pain for eternity. What a choice! Put a gun to my legs and tell me
to kiss you or else boom! There is no honor in forcing your will on people,
and there is no love born from force, but that is clearly our scenario.
There is a choice, but it is not by any means a free one. It is influential,
forceful. If god wants to give us a choice, then do so. You can chose
me and we’ll go live in Heaven together with my choir of 144,000 male
virgins (Revelation 14:1-4), or you can chose Tahiti with Satan’s
choir of 144,000 female virgins. Now that’s a choice! And
wouldn’t that be a much better means of determining who really
love’s god and who doesn’t? When you approach people with
choose me or infinite torment! Then people tend to choose you because they
wish to avoid pain and anguish, not because of love. One is a free will
choice and the other is a coercive, forced choice.
Either
way, the real injustice is the big picture. What is our purpose, if you
heed to the Christian view? To love and worship god in fellowship, right?
As it relates to god, it is for the love of some, that the pain of
multitudes occurs – that is not just, righteous or merciful. God was
willing to sacrifice everyone to a life of pain, most to an eternity of
torment, so that He can have the fellowship of a few followers! Certainly,
it would be few. Not only do we find biblical passages with such
confirmations as “Many are called but few are chosen.”
“Narrow is the way and few there be that enter in..”, etc but
statistically only a fraction of the world’s population is Christian.
Therefore, everyone else gets sent to the eternal slammer.
You
would also have to think that if god is as loving, merciful and benevolent
as he is made out to be, then everyone would already want to serve and love
him! Makes you wonder why your only alternative is to be tortured,
doesn’t it? Maybe Satan and his demons know something! If god were so
grand, why not mingle with the people and win over everybody?
Instead, he gives us a cryptic, contradictory book of stories, commands and
lineages. He only shows himself in extremely obscure ways that can be
attributed to other things, and decides not to intervene in such things as
world hunger, widespread disease outbreaks, and genocide (even of his
“chosen people” the Jews). It is almost as though he weren’t
really there…
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