Things that are too hard for the Lord

I have a family member who is very dear, very precious and I love her very much.  But she is going totally ape shit over her Christian belief to the point that she is posting scripture on her Facebook page, quoting the scandalous 700 Club and completing sentences with “Praise Jesus”.  That would be scripture from the Bible, not the Koran, not the Book of Mormon, not the I Ching, etc.  And though I am deeply tempted to respond on her Facebook page I have told her I will not do so as long as she does not throw that tripe in my face via a personal email or text.  Well, what I really said was if she threw that BS in my face I would respond with reason and rational thinking and highlight the folly of her belief in the mystical, magical, invisible sky daddy myth.  So I’ll post my response here and send her a link.

Her post was, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”  Genesis 18:14.  Well yeah.  The list of things too hard for her lord is almost infinite in length: 

Clearly, her god cannot cure cancer, in fact, her god must have created cancer if she believes he is the creator of everything.  Has there ever been a Christian loved one who died of cancer without prayers for a cure?  The same must be true for any disease one can name.

Her god cannot stop wars.  With every outbreak of hostility there are any number of sincere fools who gather to pray for peace.  Doesn’t work.  Just look at the Mideast. 

Clearly her god cannot answer the earnest prayers of hundreds of people who know they are about to die in plane crashes, ship wrecks and falling bombs.  They all die anyway. 

Clearly it was too hard for her god to place human beings on a planet that allows only about 15% of the space to be habitable.  Is it too hard for her god to give us gills? 

Clearly it is too hard for her god to inspire holy books that imply he has the ability to see into the future.  The Bible is riddled with false knowledge.  No, he had to go and say the earth was flat, the moon is a source of light not a reflection of light, that the universe revolves around earth, and, by the way, our multibillion year history is really only about 10,000 years. 

If he could see into the future and was giving us advice on how to live why didn’t he simply have Jesus say slavery is bad, treating women poorly is bad, judging others by race, ethnicity, sexual preference is bad?  Oh yeah, he did do that, but Christians don’t listen. 

Why didn’t he develop a female component in his holy trinity?  Jesus is a male.  The Holy Spirit must be a male if one believes he impregnated Mary, and Jesus refers to god as the father.  Looks like that leaves 50% of the humans on the planet without divine symbolism.  Oh yeah, there is Mary mother of Jesus worshipped by some, but her claim to fame was to declare her pregnancy was due to god, not Joseph, and spend the rest of her life no doubt explaining how she was chosen because she was a virgin and Jesus had an older brother.  Go figure.

It is clearly too hard for god to protect his creation.  99% of all life that ever existed on this planet is now extinct.

It is clearly too hard for god to find a path to salvation that did not require the tortuous death of his only son.  Man, that is heartless.  If he would allow his only son to die such a death what is willing to allow followers to experience?  Oh yeah, there is Job.

It is clearly too hard for god to redirect human behavior without drowning everyone.

It is clearly too hard for god to simply show up, send a memo, make an appearance, burn a bush, part a sea or something.  There are rumors of such but they are not substantiated by any other observers other than the cult members.

It is clearly too hard for god to have left some evidence that Jesus actually existed.  There is no evidence that he did other than the reports of those who believe in him.  We have the same evidence for Zeus, Ra, etc.

It is clearly too hard for god to actually provide for every human like he claims to do for sparrows.  (See Matthew 6:26)

It is clearly too hard for god to open every door when someone knocks or give them whatever they ask.  (See Matthew 7:7)

It is clearly too hard for god to even answer all the prayers of the faithful.  (See John 15:7.)

But believers ignore all these facts.  They perform a mental gymnastic that is truly beyond belief.  They answer all those questions by saying that either the so-called faithful are not faithful enough, or that their god has a plan that is beyond what we understand.  In other words, it is all our fault, not god’s.  People die due to a plan.  People starve due to a plan.  People kill each other due to a plan.  What a wonderful god this must be to not only kill his only son but to allow such horror as part of a plan no one ever gets to see but we must somehow believe exists.  Worse, he claims to be able to do all things and answer all prayers when he clearly does not.  So, one of the things her god cannot do is tell the truth.

And I am just getting started.  Belief in such a deity is so fool-hardy after just a few moments of reflection I wonder how anyone of sound mind can do so.  Oh yeah, I used to believe because I was brought up to believe.  But once I started asking questions and seeking knowledge my belief evaporated.  And by the way, the behavior that got Adam and Eve banished from the Garden of Eden was the act of seeking knowledge.  Is it god’s intent to punish anyone seeking knowledge?  Are all scientists by definition damned?  Those fools would have bitten the apple too just to learn.

Yes, there are many, many things god cannot do.  Or if he chooses not to do those things he must be evil.  But the major thing god cannot do is be real.

Sky Cops

One of the things that drives me bonkers about religious people is the sense they have that there is a cop in the sky, watching their every move, and who stands in judgment of their behaviors.  What a total load of crap.  So some invisible man is taking notes and taking names on over 7 billion people, and when you die he is going to read off the list and make a call.  You go to heaven and have bliss for eternity, or you go to hell and burn and scream and are tortured for eternity, and by the why, he loves you all.  (Apologies to George Carlin.)

How in the world did anyone ever convince rational people to buy that crap?  The amount of guilt the church and religion has laid on human beings is in itself sinful.  And that’s the catch.  Sky daddy gets to announce what his wants and wishes are, he simultaneously supposedly has given us the appetites and instincts to do the opposite of his wishes, so therefore we are all always sinful and in need of forgiveness.  If you want to raise a sociopathic child try that as a climate.  You can do nothing right.  Everything you want to do is wrong.  An invisible man is going to judge you some day and he watches you all the time.  That is just bullshit.

We do not know what or where or why there is a god, so by definition there must not be one.  A God serves no positive purpose, provides no insight or answers, does not deliver on promises, nor is he willing to intervene in our behalf.  Do I have to have a god to live?  Nope.  I know why we have an atmosphere and lakes and vegetation and cold beer, but I have no clue why we have a god.  Worse, we do not have a clue where heaven might be and/or where hell might be.  It is hysterical to think that billions of people have gone to one of these two eternal spots and no one knows where they are.  Even the most provincial among us can find Vega in the night sky and even the most worldly can find Lukenback, Texas.  So why is it we do not know where heaven and hell are?  What are the coordinates?  The GPS?  Which dimension?  We are capable of searching all of that and understanding all of that but it remains unknown.  And no one who has ever gone to either place has come back with a map. 

Equally funny is to believe it is something inside each of us that is eternal, that cannot be seen or measured, that goes to one of these two spots when we know full well eternity has no beginning and no end and things that cannot be measured or observed are likely to be fictional.  Each of us has a beginning.  I can remember nothing prior to about age 3 or 4.  Why would we, unlike every other life form, expect to have some sort of after death prescience?  By definition, there is no sense of self before birth and no sense of self after death.  I get it that longing for an eternal family reunion and an eternity of peace and pleasure and that somehow I will go on after death are fun concepts.  They just are not true.  And, it is incumbent on those who belief in such magical and mystical things to demonstrate that they are true and not just myths.  Show me a unicorn or evidence of unicorns or do not claim to believe there are such things.

Are you a good person only because someone is watching you?  Does surveillance keep you honest?  Then I am oh so sorry.  Christianity taught you that.  For those of us who resent constant surveillance and have a clear understanding of what good behavior is and chose to be good because it is intrinsically good not because we fear punishment or seek reward we reject the idea of sky cops who are watching our every move.  We don’t need them.  Atheists are good people without the fear and guilt Christians apparently need.  Atheists recognize that by caring for our fellow humans we improve the quality of life for all.  And we do so without the pursuit of pleasure or the avoidance of punishment.  We do so because it is the logical and right thing to do.

So, if you are driven by fear fueled by guilt that you are a sinful being and punishment is forthcoming, relax.  You do not need to go to a building, sit in a booth and request forgiveness from another human being as flawed as you are.  You do not need to go down front in some worship service and admit you are human.  You do not need to fall on your knees and plead with an invisible man in the sky to forgive you.  All you need to do is forgive yourself, make amends with any you have hurt, and keep moving forward with your own clear sense of right and wrong.  Leave guilt behind.  It is not real, it is based on false assumptions, and is in no way helpful.  The sky cops will never pull you over, arrest you and throw you in jail.  They are a figment of your childhood imagination.

Questions I Can't Answer

If I were a believer, I could not answer these questions:

Does God love me?  How would I know?  Doesn’t John 3:16 really say God is willing to kill his son?  If so, what is he willing to let me endure?  Aren’t I a child of God?

If God is so omnipotent why doesn’t he just defeat the devil?  If he allows the devil to exist as a source of temptation to us how does that help us?  If we suffer for succumbing to temptation why did God give us the appetites to be tempted?  How is this not torture?

Does God have a secret plan for everyone?  If so, do we have free will?  Why would he keep the plan a secret?  Why would we use God’s secret plan as an excuse for God not acting when we pray?

Why pray?  If God has a plan and we do not know what it is then isn’t prayer a waste of time?  Is he going to let stuff happen one way or another based on his secret plan?

Does God monitor everything I think, do, or say?  If so, how can I be free?  How can it be that he is benevolent when he is keeping a list of all my sins and acts as the worst kind of thought police?

Where is heaven?  Is it in another dimension?  Is it in another galaxy?  Does heaven have a GPS location?  How about hell?  The same must be true.  If there is a place for eternity how have we not found it yet?  These places would be full of the billions of folks who have died.  If souls or spirits have no shape or form or substance how can they exist? 

Why did God set up the Garden of Eden so that everything was good to do except pursue knowledge?  What is the message?  Are we not to pursue knowledge and apply that knowledge?  How could we have dominion over the life forms on the planet and the natural world if we did not use science?  Why is God still punishing us for decisions made by Adam and Eve?  That is the grudge that will not go away.  How does that exemplify God’s love for us?

Does God intervene to alter the physical laws of the universe?  The Bible says he does.  Bushes burn but not, seas part, water becomes wine, blindness is healed, stars hover over cities, millions of life forms are enclosed in an ark, etc.  So, why doesn’t he intervene when we ask him to?  Can we continue to say that is part of his secret plan for us?  A plan that hurts us or hurts our loved ones?  Why doesn’t God intervene when a plane load of innocent people all pray fervently prior to the crash? Or a boatload before it sinks?  What kind of plan is that?

If God is so smart, why couldn’t he figure out another way to save us from our sins other than kill his own son?  I can think of a few.  Why is our remembrance of this event so ghastly?  A cross?  Might as well be a hangman’s noose, a guillotine, an AK-47, an electric chair.  Why do we symbolize cannibalism when we remember this sacrifice?  This is my body, this is my blood.  Yuck!

Why didn’t Jesus while he was here preaching take the opportunity to make statements about the equality of women and races and sexual preference and abortion and slavery and all the other issues we face.  Did he not know these issues were coming?  In fact, Jesus seems more willing to support the status quo of the day.  How can that be if we are to be changed, love our neighbors as ourselves, be a Good Samaritan, etc.?

If have a soul that is eternal, then why can’t I remember anything prior to my birth, or prior to about age 3?  How can something eternal have a start date?  Why would we expect to continue to have awareness after we die?  Do other living things have such awareness, or is this just our egotistical folly?

If I read the Bible and just discount the passages I know are false, (the earth is not flat, the earth is not the center of our solar system or the universe, the earth is much more than 10,000 years old, we should not stone people to death for adultery or pre-marital sex, etc.) then what is to keep me from simply saying other passages are as discounted as these?  Rising from the dead?  Ascending into heaven?  Water into wine? Etc.  But if we take the entire Bible literally we know it to be false in so many ways. 

How can I be a Christian and support bigotry, fear, discrimination of any sort, promotion of wealth, and fear of other humans?  How can I be a Christian and explain the horrible deeds done to others in the name of the Christian God?  Lynchings, slavery, the Inquisition, the Crusades, ban on Muslim immigration or Mexican immigration?  How is that aligned with the commandments of Jesus?

How can it be that there is no record other than the records of Christians that Jesus actually existed?  How can it be that Herod actually died 6 years before Jesus birth?  How can it be that the Romans did not order a census in the year of Jesus birth?  How can it be that Horus, an Egyptian god, was born of a virgin, performed miracles, died and rose from the dead 3 days later and his followers preceded Jesus?  How can Mary be a virgin and Jesus have an older brother?  How can it be that it took 400 years after Jesus for humans to canonize the Bible?  Did God dictate the Bible to men, or did men write what they wanted?

Did God create us in his image, or did we create God in ours?

God and Free Will

I see and hear religious people constantly making excuses for their god.  I simply laugh at the posters that show two sets of footprints that become one set because the theory is god is carrying the faithful.  I read apologies like When Bad Things Happen to Good People and The Shack that make the argument that god made us and gave us free will and now he/she will watch over us, care about us, hear our prayers, yada yada yada, but he/she is reluctant to intervene in the exercise of our free will.  BS.

The first question that comes to my mind is, does god have free will?  Does the almighty have the ability to make decisions on his/her own and act on those decisions?  Or, is god bound by some law that he or she created that forces god into the role of spectator on the sidelines of human activity?  I would argue that it is reasonable to assume that god would not be able to give humans free will if he or she did not have free will.  It was a decision on god’s part to give humans this gift.  Therefore, by definition, god must have free will.

The Bible is full of stories of god choosing to act when he or she was not forced to act.  The flood, the parting of the Red Sea, turning water into wine, calming the waves, healing the blind, forgiving the sinners, raising Lazarus, etc., etc.  In each of those stories the message is clear.  God decided to act, decided to intervene and change the natural laws he or she theoretically established.  In other words, god cannot make a rock he or she cannot move.  He/she made the laws and he/she can choose to alter those laws.  Talking through a burning bush that does not burn clearly violates the laws of physics, and yet he/she supposedly did so.  Not to mention rising from the dead.

So, if god has free will, how does he or she decide how to exercise that will?  It is in answer to that question that all Christians begin to apologize for god.  They would say god has a plan that we are not privy to and that whatever happens is part of god’s plan.  If that is true, god has a terrible, mean plan.  In The Shack god assured the dad of the murdered daughter that he/she was with her to the very end.  Great.  Why not stop the kidnapping in the first place?  In Why Bad Things Happen to Good People the argument is much the same:  god set laws in motion and will not intervene.  But that is not true.  God does intervene if you believe the Bible.  God does intervene if you believe in miracles.  So the question is, why doesn’t god choose to intervene every time a faithful believer beseeches god to act?  Can god’s plan include the death of thousands due to cancer, death of thousands due to airline crashes, death of thousands due to homicides and suicides?  It is totally unreasonable for a so-called loving deity to allow such tragedy.

Yes, god must have free will.  And if you choose to worship a god who may drown you in a flood or let your child die because of some unknown plan when believers know full well that god could intervene, then you are at least a sucker and at worst a gullible person suffering from delusions.  Or, your god is either impotent, deaf or mean.

God Chat

One of the reasons I have abandoned my faith is that the following cannot happen.

Had a little chat with God yesterday and it was enlightening.  In the context of the Muslim immigration ban, the separation of children from their asylum-seeking parents, the permission granted to bakers to discriminate against LGBTQ couples, the permission granted to florists to discriminate against LGBTQ couples, and the fervent support of Trump by the religious right I figured I must have stuff all messed up.  The world seems backwards.  Seems to me Christians and Muslims should be calling for Trump’s impeachment, not defending him, much less operating in his shadow of bigotry, adultery, lies, collusion, misogyny, and emoluments.  So, I thought I would ask the boss.

OEB:    God, did you choose Trump to be our President?

GOD:  No.  I do not intervene in such things as elections, sporting events, gambling outcomes, etc.  All my children have free will and daily choose to do what is right or what is wrong.

OEB:    So, how do we know what is right?

GOD:   Follow my commandments.

OEB:    OK.  Please remind me of those.

GOD:   It would be a great start if my children followed the commandment to love me with all their heart and mind and spirit, and love their neighbors as they love themselves.

OEB:    I get the first part of that.  It is the second part I have trouble understanding.  Just who is my neighbor?

GOD:  All my children.

OEB:    So I am to love immigrants, Hispanics, Blacks, homosexuals, transgenders, Muslims, poor people, sick people, etc. as much as I love myself?

GOD:  Yep.

OEB:    Loving my neighbor as I love myself means I want the best for them, I want to help them, I want to clothe them and feed them and heal them and protect them and make their lives better.  Right?

GOD:  Right.  Serving yourself while harming others is not my work nor my commandment.  That is the work of someone else.

OEB:    Can the people who claim to love you with all their hearts but refuse to love their neighbors still call themselves your followers?

GOD:  Nope.

OEB:    Thanks, God.  You have helped me see the right things to do.