While looking through my Bible the other day, I ran across a phrase I had seen before and questioned. I questioned it so because of how ambiguous it was and the fact that one could very easily see it two separate ways. I’m not saying contradictions and confusion aren’t common in the Bible, but this section in particular made me wonder.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6 NIV)

Now I see this as being read in two different ways. One from a Christian view and one from a Jewish view. I would guess most(if not al) Christians would read this as a prophecy for the coming birth of Christ. Couldn’t somebody just as easily interpret this as simply a new king of Israel to unite and deliver them? This type of thing was pretty common in the surrounding text. I guess my point is that a work like the Bible is so open to interpretation because of the way it is written. Guess that happens when you have a story written by many different authors across different continents over a long period of time though. Some people would assert that I am grasping at straws here, but I disagree. It is all too common for small things like this to cause great disputes among the believers. There are people blowing each other up due to a disagreement in the meaning of phrases in a collection of stories written long ago. If there was a God, why won’t He just pop in and straighten things out? Throughout the Bible, God has no problem talking with people and making His will crystal clear. Sure it destroys that whole faith principle, but wouldn’t it be worth it to help His people? How do you feel this passage reads? Doesn’t it seem weird that so many things in the Bible seem so prone to easy distortion? I guess I’ll conclude with another fun little bit from the Book of Isaiah:

¹⁵ Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.

¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.

(Isaiah 13:15-16 NIV)

I just find it strange that such a loving God is also such a malevolent dictator. There are plenty of good passages you can find about baby killing, looting, pillaging and the raping of wives. Damn this is beginning to sound like a tale of piracy.

Finally, I’ve had the opportunity to read God Hates You Hate Him Back. Essentially it is a full deconstruction and explanation of the Bible, or as CJ Werleman describes it “The Greatest Story Never Read”. I’ll admit that is true too. Just from personal experience, most Christians have not read their Bible and are clueless.

This book aims to explain the Bible chapter-by-chapter and it is spelled out pretty clearly. From what he says, by the end you will either realize that God hates you or does not exist.  Overall, it is one of the better atheist books I’ve read recently. Werleman is funny, but is also intelligent enough to be witty without being overpowering. Many books are guilty of this and it detracts from the experience.It also isn’t too overtly offensive that it would instantly turn away a religious person. Sure his jokes can be offensive, but I think most people wouldn’t be completely turned off by them.

I personally found it fun to take my copy of The Bible and read along with this novel. God Hates You frequently has excerpts from the Bible and it is a simple matter to find them, read them and verify they aren’t taken out of context. From what I saw, he is always accurate in his descriptions and analysis. If you haven’t ever taken the time to fully read and comprehend the Bible, this book provides a great chance to do so. By the end, you will have a good understanding of it and you will have had fun. This book is one that could actually change people’s minds, something that has become somewhat of a rarity. But as Asimov said “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived”.  CJ Werleman definately provides both a proper reading and a potent force for atheism in his writing. All I could hope for next are disections of other religious texts like the Koran or the Book of Mormon. I highly reccomend giving God Hates You a chance, I sincerely doubt you will be disappointed in the slightest.

This type of thinking gets us absolutely nowhere.

Well it’s Christian and its allegorical fiction. Yep it belongs there. Anybody have any funny pictures of doing something like this at their local bookstore? Post them below or email them to me: godlessblogger@gmail.com

Well fuck.

No, they aren’t forcing you to take a Bible class, but it is required to be in ALL high schools. Basically take Britain’s compulsory evolution education and flip it inside out.

Attorney General Greg Abbott told the Associated Press this bill does not require the schools to make the course mandatory, but they do have to make it an elective. It is “mandating high schools to offer history and literacy courses on the Old and New Testaments.”

That sounds fair. Give interested students a chance to learn about a religion of their choice. Nothing wrong with that. Except, what is happening in Texas is a little different. The only option being mandated is the Bible.

The bill wanted to educate the Bible’s impact in history and literacy, but what about other religious scripts?“These courses are often more about the religious beliefs of the teachers rather than true academic studies of the importance of the Bible in history and literature,” said Kathy Miller, director of Texas Freedom Network, to Fox News.

Ahh see there in lies the problem. This is nothing more than a direct promotion of Christianity. Who the hell are you to decide your faith is right? Only true Christians are concerned with the history and academics, the other faiths just want to preach personal views. What? This would be screwing over a sizeable amount of the population. About 15% actually.

According to a 2007 study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, of the 35,556 adults surveyed for the “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” 15.5 percent of the Texas population practices a religion other than Christianity or Catholicism. This includes Judaism, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and those unaffiliated.

I imagine this will be subject to some litigation and eventually be repealed. I am okay with religious classes in schools, but atleast be fair about it. Maybe all these asshats should analyze our Constitution for a change. Would save us all time and money..

Surely the enlightened text which is derived straight from God would not condone slavery, right? I mean God loves us all and wouldn’t have some people as being less than equal. Unless you know the Bible was written by men with their own agendas. The Bible seems pretty okay with slavery and with treating these slaves like dirt. A good example would be Exodus 21:20-21:

“If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.

Maybe, this is just a rare example though.Not so much. This supposedly “good” book values the life of an animal over a slave.

Exodus 21:28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible.” Exodus 21:32 “If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned. (but not to death)”

Lord help you if you attempt to treat an Israelite as a slave.

Deuteronomy 24:7“If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.”

That seems like a pretty clear passage about human equality. All of us aren’t in the eyes of God. You would think this kind and benevolent creator would care equally for everybody and not pick favorites. Although when you read the Bible literally and take it as His “word” that does not appear to be true. Don’t worry, this isn’t even confined to the Old Testament. We can find phrases about slavery in the New Testament as well:

1 Timothy 6:1″All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.“

1 Peter 2:18 “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.”

Colossians 3:22 “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.”

That seems pretty clear to me that the Bible is completely okay with slaves. Some would probably argue that times have changed and this no longer applies. How does that work? The Bible is supposed to be the unchanging and unabridged words of God. How could they be wrong? Seeing something like this in the Bible should make anybody question the accuracy of the rest of it.

It’s true though. The Bible was a giant version of telephone. Yet people put a bunch of allegorical fables as a basis to live their lives.