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How did Christianity originate? According to the official teaching of the Christian Churches, it originated in certain unique events which occurred in Palestine under the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius (Robertson 63). Christianity is a religion in which events are claimed to have occurred but which can never be proved. Those who practice it live by different morals than are preached by the most holy texts. It is an institution in which the most Holy Scripture is contradictory, and wherein the Supreme Being, by the very definition, cannot exist. Christianity is, therefore, a fundamentally flawed religion.
According to the Bible, events have occurred which are even more miraculous than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Events such as the stopping of the sun by Joshua (Joshua 10: 12 - 14), the reversal of the sun's course by Isaiah (Isaiah 38: 7 - 8), the resurrection of the saints, and their subsequent appearance to many (Matthew 27: 52 - 53) were witnessed by thousands of people. The stopping and reversal of the sun would have been visible worldwide. The idea that people could have witnessed these events without having been amazed by them is, quite simply, ludicrous.
Other cultures having witnessed this would certainly have offered their own explanations in keeping with their own cultural and religious beliefs. Surely a society existing at the time would have documented this miraculous event. Yet nowhere have such works been found. In the instance of the resurrection of the saints, Matthew is the only person to mention this occurrence in the Bible. Surely other first-century Christians would have used this as further proof of Jesus' divinity. It would fall to reason that Paul and the gospels would have mentioned it.
This is not, however, the case. Nowhere else in the Bible is this mentioned or even hinted at. These events are then, at best, highly unlikely to have occurred. The fact that Matthew is alone in writing of the resurrection of the saints leads us to believe that certain writers of the Bible had differing views on Christianity.
Pannenberg said it best when he stated that there is almost no other subject in modern theology so difficult to deal with as the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is (13). The Christian Bible is highly contradictory, not just to modern day Christian beliefs, but in and of itself. Today's society is of the belief that all people are created equal, and Christians submit that their God is of the same belief. Modern Christians believe that their God loves everyone, and that they are all equal. However, after Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree forbidden by God, this deity said to Eve "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master" (Genesis 3: 16).
This tells us that, according to the Christian religion, men shall naturally dominate women. This kind of behavior is not conducive to a being that believes in inherent equality. Women are repeatedly treated as objects and told to be submissive in the Bible. "According to the rule observed in all the assemblies of believers, women should keep silent in such gatherings. Rather, as the law indicates, submissiveness is indicated for them. If they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. It is a disgrace when a woman speaks in the assembly" (1 Corinthians 14: 34 - 35). "Man was not made from woman but woman from man.
Neither was man created for woman but woman for man. For this reason, a woman ought to have a sign of submission on her head" (1 Corinthians 11: 8 - 10). The Bible also permits bondage. "Slaves, male and female, you may indeed possess, provided you buy them from among neighboring the nations. You may also buy them from among the aliens who reside with you and from their children who are born and raised in their land. Such slaves you may own as chattels, and leave to your sons as their hereditary property, making them perpetual slaves" (Leviticus 25: 44 - 46).
This same Bible gives laws on the punishment of slaves. "When a man strikes his slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property" (Exodus 21: 20 - 21). We find further examples of prejudice in Deuteronomy. In the Bible, it is stated that "No one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may be admitted into the community of the Lord.
No child of an incestuous or adulterous union may be admitted into the community of the Lord, nor any descendant of his even to the tenth generation" (Deuteronomy 23: 2 - 3). Consider the first statement. If a faithful Christian were to get in an automobile accident with a resulting injury to his genitals, he would not be admitted into Heaven. The second statement is even more ridiculous than the first.
An innocent child, through no fault of its own, is born a bastard and may not be admitted into Heaven. But more than that, none of his descendants may ever be admitted. These are not characteristics, which are normally associated with justice and goodness. These are petty, cruel actions.
This is not the only discrepancy in the Christian Bible. Judah's daughter-in-law, Tamar, is said to have been a harlot (Genesis 38: 24). Because of her harlotry, she became pregnant (Genesis 38: 25). She had twins and named them Perez and Zerah. "These are the descendants of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron was the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminibad, Amminibad was the father of Nahshon, Nahshon was the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed, Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David" (Ruth 4: 18 - 22). Therefore David, King of Israel, was a descendant of a bastard and subsequently should not have been allowed into the community the Lord. This is a huge contradiction, as David is such an important figure in the Bible.
The contradiction involving David pales in comparison, however, to the one of the very definition of a Supreme Being. In Christianity, Christ is central in atoning for the sins of mankind. Had there been no sins of mankind, there would be no story of Christ. The nature of sin must then therefore be analyzed. Christians accept that God created everything.
If this is true, then this same God created evil. It is written in the Bible that God is all knowing (1 John 3: 20). God is, in effect, omniscient. If God is omniscient and creates, he then knows all possible outcomes of all possible creations of all possible universes. If he created our universe, he chose what its destiny would be. In doing so, he chose the paths of our lives.
Thus, we can conclude that the universe is completely deterministic to God and, by being a creator, he cannot allow freewill to exist unless the universe is no longer predetermined to him. If this is true, then humanity is merely a collection of automatons. If this is not true, then God cannot be omniscient. If the Christian God were omniscient, then he could foresee his own future. If this being knows its own future, he does not have the power to change it. Considering, however, that God is omnipotent, there is a major conflict with his omniscient nature.
If God were able to change his future, that would mean that God would not be able to foresee when he would make sudden changes in his future and what changes would result, eliminating the possibility of his being omniscient. Therefore, these qualities cannot be held simultaneously by one being. It is important now to look at the possibility of omnipotence. The Christian God is perfectly good and omnipotent, yet evil exists. If God is omnipotent and perfectly good, he could and would dispel evil. Three possible conclusions arise from these statements.
God is perfectly good but evil exists, so he is not able to dispel evil and thus is not omnipotent. The second possible conclusion is this: that God is omnipotent but evil exists, and God is therefore not perfectly good. The last possible, and most feasible, conclusion is that God does not exist. According to a recent survey of Americans, Gallup found that over 46 % of all Americans feel that the influence of religion on Americans lives is decreasing (78). It can easily be seen that Christianity is a religion based on falsehoods and has many intrinsic flaws. They are seen by the fact that the followers of this religion do not conduct themselves in the manner proscribed by their most holy texts.
These errors reside in the facts that these same texts are contradictory, and that their very god cannot possibly exist. These errors and omissions are then covered by a vague concept: faith. Works Cited A Readers Guide to the Holy Bible. Camden: Nelson, 1972 Gallup, George Jr. Religion in America. Princeton: PRRC, 1982.
Robertson, Archibald. The Origins of Christianity. New York: International P, 1954. Welburn, Andrew.
The Beginnings of Christianity. Edinburgh: Floris, 1991. Wolfhart, Pannenberg, Avery Dulles, and Carl E. Braaten, eds.
Spirit, Faith, and Church. Philadelphia: Westminster P, 1952.
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