Author Archive for Brain

God Lies and the Devil Tells the Truth

Published

on April 1, 2011

Genesis 2:16-17

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 3:2-7

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

In Genesis 2, God clearly states that Adam and Eve will surely die after they eat the fruit, but they actually continue to live after doing so. In serpent form, the Devil informs them that they will know the difference between good and evil, which they do. It’s not like they were immortal before and then had their immortality taken away. In Genesis 3, God himself says that they have become “one of us,” so the serpent really did tell the truth when he said that Adam and Eve “shall be as gods” once they knew good and evil. Unfortunately, God kicks Adam and Eve out of the garden so that they cannot eat from the tree of life and live forever.

Some have suggested that they experienced a spiritual death. If that is true, then why doesn’t God say so? Instead of doing that, he rattles off various punishments that they will endure. The snake eats dust while women hate him. Eve gets painful childbirth and submission to men. Adam must work the cursed land to get his food. God doesn’t say anything about any death, spiritual or otherwise. Christians may deny this and make rationalizations all they want, but the textual evidence shows that God lied and the Devil told the truth.

The story itself is unfair. Adam and Eve didn’t understand the difference between good and evil before eating the fruit. They didn’t know that it was bad to go against God before they did this, so he is essentially punishing them for something that they didn’t have the capacity to fully comprehend. God shouldn’t have placed the tree there to begin with, because they would have had free will without it.

If no one was supposed to eat from it, why not root it up? Why leave it there to tempt the first two humans? In addition, why does God want to prevent Adam and Eve from gaining knowledge? Faith, belief without evidence, is what he places the most value on. If he exists and is omniscient, then he placed the tree there because he knew that the first two humans would eat from it. He wanted them to blindly follow him rather than to learn anything. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree out of ignorance, he cursed them and their descendants for all eternity. That is evil and deceitful, and his punishments are extreme and cruel. This is not a good god.

The only logical conclusion to come to is that both sides of the Christian pantheon are imaginary. Gods, devils, angels, demons, Heaven, Hell, the afterlife, and even the supernatural, everlasting soul are all notions that stem purely from the human imagination. Christianity is but mythology and superstition that hardens our hearts and enslaves our minds.

All Scripture is from God

Published

Brain

on October 23, 2010

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

According to 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is inspired by God and illustrates how he believes we should live a good, moral life. These verses are often used to encourage others to read the King James Bible, which The Devil’s Highlighter completely supports.

By using the term scripture, Paul could be referring to the Old Testament specifically or perhaps to the entirety of the King James Bible. Either way, all scripture can be used to determine what is right from what is wrong. This includes the support of rape, slavery, and genocide that are not only condoned but requested or even performed by God on several occasions. These verses lay the blame directly on God for all of the atrocities in the King James Bible.

The Old Law Still Applies

Published

Brain

on October 23, 2010

Matthew 5:17-20

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the Old Law. This means that all of the laws proposed by the Old Testament should indeed be followed by those who follow him. There is no indication anywhere in the King James Bible that suggests that Jesus freed anyone from any part of the Law, with the notable exception that he was supposed to be the last sacrifice.

In effect, beyond the necessity to sacrifice animals to God in atonement for sins, all of the laws of the Old Testament must be obeyed. This is an important point, as many Christians will say that they are not bound by the Old Law because of Jesus. It seems that those that use such logic have not properly read the King James Bible.

The Masochistic Prophet

Published

Brain

on October 6, 2010

1 Kings 20:35-37

35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.

In 1 Kings 20, a prophet orders his neighbor to hurt him. Apparently, it was a bad idea for his neighbor to refrain from fulfilling his masochistic wishes, because the prophet got a lion to slay him. Then, he found another person who did obey the prophet and hurt him.

The act of someone ordering another to harm one’s self, as well as to threaten death when the order isn’t carried out, is absolutely hilarious. Most of all, it is immoral. In this instance, the nice guy is the one who is punished. Why is it that the person who refuses to harm his neighbor is the one who is devoured by a lion? It doesn’t make any sense.

The Bald Avenger

Published

Brain

on September 29, 2010

2 Kings 2:23-25

23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.

In 2 Kings 2, Elisha, a former disciple of Elijah, is simply walking along when a group of children begin poking fun at his bald head. There are quite a number of different ways that he could deal with this scenario. He could simply ignore the peanut gallery and continue merrily on his way, he could laugh with the kids and make a few friends in the process, or he could have them all maimed and slaughtered by wild animals. Being a good and saintly fellow, Elisha decided on the most righteous of choices, the mauling.

Apparently, Elisha felt that it would be appropriate to utilize his rancor and call upon God, who then summoned a couple of female bears to tear them limb from limb. That’s a lovely little tale. With inspiring stories such as these, I can see why people call this the Good Book.

God Cannot Defeat Iron Chariots

Published

Brain

on December 10, 2009

Judges 1:19

19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

In Judges 1, we find that there is a war. The Israelites are running around, killing all sorts of people, and taking their land.

God lends them aid by delivering these people into their hands. Well, not all of them. Apparently, he could not drive out one particular group, and it’s all because they had chariots of iron. It seems as if this all-powerful god actually does have a weakness, and it happens to be iron!

Iron, being the element that gives blood its color and odor, has long been associated with life and death, as well as the gods. It is often used to repel fairies, demons, witches, and evil spirits. It surprises me to find that it apparently also repels God, or at least renders him unable to shoo you away.

Can a god really be claimed to be all-powerful if he can’t even deal with a few iron chariots? How do you think he’d stand up to an armored tank?