In Eden, God Lied and the Snake Spoke Truth

https://www.humanreligions.info/god_lied_in_eden.html - In Eden, God Lied and the Snake Spoke Truth.

God itself says that if Adam eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, "thou shalt surely die" on the very same day, using the Hebrew mût tamût that specifically means physical death and yôm which does just mean an ordinary day (Gen 2:16-17, Gen 3:2-3). The serpent says it's untrue: actually they will attain knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:4-5). Adam and Eve, who were already mortal (Gen 3:22-23), ate from the tree and didn't die. They lived on to parent all of humanity. God in Gen. 3:22 admits that Adam and Eve did indeed "become as one of us, to know good and evil". God lied, and Satan told the truth.

Hindu Violent Extremism Against Christians in India: The Continuing Legacy of the BJP

Hindu nationalists target Christians in India, as the culmination of a few decades of increasing hate. In Christmas 2007, a hundred churches were damaged and 700 Christian homes destroyed: things have gotten especially bad since the BJP gained power nationally in 2014, with their representatives giving hate speeches (including calling for death to Christians), encouraging the many hundreds of violent incidents recorded each year against Christians. See section 6 of https://www.humanreligions.info/hindu_extremism.html.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is much-loved because it sounds positive and wholesome. But it's a trap, just as Habakkuk's opposite gloom is a trap. Don't fall for it: we can make the world better by behaving better, educating ourselves, embracing human rights, and encouraging others.

www.humanreligions.info/psalm_23.html

The Old Testament Book of Habakkuk

After a long series of prophets promise again and again that god is going to punish the Hebrews' neighbours for their unbelief, the reality of history is that the Chaldeans, after conquering Babylon, continued to spread. In terms of the Hebrews' understanding of their place in God's world, this simply made no sense. This story explains that God empowers the violent, expansionist and immoral Chaldeans, and that God (for no particularly good reason) boosts them against the Hebrews, causing the Chaldeans to occupy and ransack southern Judah.

Habakkuk tries to explain that God is choosing the Chaldeans to damage Judah on purpose, but struggles to find a coherent ethical reason why such bloodshed and violence can be endorsed by a good god, as a collective punishment - especially when the Chaldeans were infamously immoral and ought to be the ones being corrected. It is hard to see what morals or teachings there are in these wars between the Hebrews and their neighbours other than that it pays to be on the winning side, whether or not the winners are Jehovah-fearers.

The contents of "The Book of Habakkuk by Vexen Crabtree (2012) is:

1. The 3 chapters of Habakkuk (56 verses)
   1. Habakkuk 1 (17 verses)
   2. Habakkuk 2 (20 verses)
   3. Habakkuk 3 (19 verses)

Trial by Ordeal in Medieval Europe

Added section 6.6: Trials by Ordeal. These torturous and chaotic devices were administered by the Christian Church as a way of calling on God to issue judgement, especially in the 8th-13th centuries. The Church provided a strict framework for their use, and with popular support and Christian King's endorsements, they were used for secular purposes, in a world with no separation between legal systems, religion and the state. www.humanreligions.info/christian_morality.html Only one kind of trial by ordeal is directly described in the Bible; Numbers 5:11-31 has God itself describe how an adultery case should be solved by a priest if there are no witnesses, the wife hides it, and the husband become jealous: by Ordeal of Bitter Water. The woman (of course) must drink water adulterated with ink, alongside a series of ritual steps by the Priest. If she suffers from the water, she is guilty. If she has no symptoms, she is allowed to live and conceive. Ordeals administered by the Christian Church included Ordeal of the Cross, Ordeal of Boiling Water, Ordeal of Red-Hot Iron and Ordeal of Water. In some, innocence is proven if the accused sinks and drowns. The overall results were disfiguration, or cheating, or a rigged test designed to produce the 'right' result by those setting it up. Overall, they were immoral, unreliable to the point of being random, and clearly injust.

11th-13th Century: Christian Superstitions Doom the Norse in Greenland

In full in section 7.1: The Danish Norse who settled in Greenland died of starvation after converting to Christianity and using too many resources to build churches, and allowing prejudice against non-Christians to prevent trade or cultural exchange with the Inuit, who knew how to survive. www.humantruth.info/greenland.html

Christianity Declining

From 2010 to 2020, these countries saw over 10% of their population stop describing themselves as Christian: Australia (-20%), Chile (-18%), Uruguay (-17%), the USA (-14%), Canada (-14%), the UK (-13%), Austria (-12%), Sweden (-12%), Switzerland (-12%), Ireland (-11%), France (-11%) and Belgium (-10%), with Finland and Spain close behind.

The largest increase in Christianity in a country in that period was in Mozambique (+5.0%).

See humanreligions.info/christianity.html section #2 on Worldwide Numbers.

The Epistle of St Paul to the Galatians

The Epistle of Galatians is one of the genuine letters of St Paul in the Christian Bible, written within Paul's lifetime. It describes his conversion to Christianity (via a vision), and how he didn't actually go meet the disciples in Jerusalem for 3 years after. It's main message is that you don't have to be a Jew to convert to Christianity. Here's a summary and complete text:

1. An Introduction to St Paul's Letters
2. Contradictions Between Acts and Galatians
   1. Who Did Paul Talk To After His Conversion?
   2. Further Issues
3. The 6 chapters of Galatians (149 verses)
   1. Galatians 1 (24 verses) - Paul greets churches in Galatia; there is only one gospel; gospel is from God, not humans; Paul's early life & testimony
   2. Galatians 2 (21 verses)
   3. Galatians 3 (29 verses)
   4. Galatians 4 (31 verses)
   5. Galatians 5 (26 verses)
   6. Galatians 6 (18 verses)

What is Skepticism and Its Values?

Skepticism has to overcome not just our natural inclinations and the difficulties we face in analyzing our own thinking errors, but also, groups that resist the very concept of evidence-based rationality.

Powerful USA Christian religious-right groups in the 1980s consistently attempted, and often succeeded, in preventing schools from teaching critical thinking or skepticism. They used legal methods, or if that failed, harassed teachers and used 'parent concern' groups to object to the content.

Link: What is Skepticism and Its Values? on humantruth.info/skepticism.html

The Old Testament Book of Micah

The Old_Testament book of Micah, from the 8th century BCE, called for a popular revolt against the rich and powerful in Jerusalem and Samaria, who were abusing the poor. The original text, over a few hundred years, had various editors add comments, including the final 2 chapters. Christians took some of the concepts and used them as prophecies of Jesus. 2nd edition of this page: I've rewrote the introduction, expanded ch#1 to include paragraphs on historical authorship, and added two chapters: #2 on the call for violent revolution, and #3, about the leader from Bethlehem. Link: www.humanreligions.info/micah.html.

The Book of Job

I've shortened the introduction to the Book of Job and added a section on dating & authorship. The contents menu of The Book of Job is now:

1. Authorship and Structure
2. God Testing People in The Bible
3. God as the Author of Evil: Are Satan and God Interchangeable?
4. The 42 chapters of Job (1070 verses)
   1. Job 1 (22 verses) - Job was blameless. The LORD allowed Satan to test him. Job's servants and children were killed. He tore his robes and worshipped.
   2. Job 2 (13 verses) - Satan & LORD discuss Job; Satan gives Job skin disease; Job's wife discourages Job; Job stays faithful; Job's friends visit him
   3. Job 3 (26 verses)
   4. Job 4 (21 verses) - Eliphaz said, "Will you become impatient? When did the innocent ever perish? I heard a voice: 'Can a man be more righteous than God?'"
   5. Job 5 (27 verses) - "Who will answer you? Man is born to trouble. As for me, I would seek God. Do not despise his discipline. He wounds, but he binds up."
   6. Job 6 (30 verses) - Job said, "My misery would outweigh the sand of the seas! You have proved no help. Show me how I have been wrong! Would I lie to you?"
   7. Job 7 (21 verses)
   8. Job 8 (22 verses) - Bildad speaks to Job: Job & children must have sinned to cause Job's trouble; tells Job to turn to God; talks about evil people
   9. Job 9 (35 verses)
   10. Job 10 (22 verses)
   11. Job 11 (20 verses) - Zophar said, "Should your babble go unanswered? God exacts less than your guilt deserves! Reach out to him and you will find hope."
   12. Job 12 (25 verses)
   13. Job 13 (28 verses) - "I want to argue my case with God. Be quiet and I will speak. Though he slay me, I will hope in him. God, why do you hide your face?"
   14. Job 14 (22 verses)
   15. Job 15 (35 verses) - Eliphaz said, "Your own mouth condemns you! Why do you turn against God? The wicked will be like a vine stripped of unripe grapes."
   16. Job 16 (22 verses)
   17. Job 17 (16 verses) - Job is desolate. All is woe.
   18. Job 18 (21 verses)
   19. Job 19 (29 verses)
   20. Job 20 (29 verses)
   21. Job 21 (34 verses)
   22. Job 22 (30 verses) - Eliphaz said, "Is not your wickedness great? You withheld bread from the hungry. Is not God high? Submit to him and be at peace."
   23. Job 23 (17 verses) - Job said, "If only I knew where to find God! When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. But he does whatever he pleases."
   24. Job 24 (25 verses) - "The wounded cry out, but God charges no one with wrong. Some rebel against the light; they are exalted a while, and then are gone."
   25. Job 25 (6 verses) - Bildad said, "Dominion and awe belong to God. Who can be righteous before him? Even the stars are not pure in his sight!"
   26. Job 26 (14 verses) - Job said, "How you have helped the weak! Sheol is naked to God. The pillars of heaven tremble. These are the fringes of his ways!"
   27. Job 27 (23 verses)
   28. Job 28 (28 verses)
   29. Job 29 (25 verses)
   30. Job 30 (31 verses)
   31. Job 31 (40 verses) - "Does God not see my ways? Have I lied? Have I refused to help the poor? Have I put my trust in money? Let the Almighty answer me!"
   32. Job 32 (22 verses)
   33. Job 33 (33 verses)
   34. Job 34 (37 verses) - "It is unthinkable that God would do wrong. Can one who hates justice govern? God shows no partiality. Job speaks like the wicked!"
   35. Job 35 (16 verses) - "Even if you are righteous, what do you give to God? He does not answer because of the pride of evil men. You must wait for him!"
   36. Job 36 (33 verses)
   37. Job 37 (24 verses) - "God thunders with his voice. By the breath of God, ice is made. Do you know his wondrous works? He is great in power and justice!"
   38. Job 38 (41 verses)
   39. Job 39 (30 verses) - "Do you mark when the deer is born? Will the wild ox serve you? Do you give the horse his might? Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?"
   40. Job 40 (24 verses) - Job said, "I have no answer." The LORD said, "Will you condemn me? Behold now, Behemoth, which I made. Can anyone pierce his nose?"
   41. Job 41 (34 verses) - "Can you catch Leviathan with a hook? Everything under heaven is mine. His breath sets coals ablaze. He is king over all the proud."
   42. Job 42 (17 verses)

Five updates on pages on Christianity

1. Iyyobh, in the Jewish Book of Truth - Known to Christians as the Book of Job: I've added a paragraph to the introduction on this page on the theological problems in the story of Job, and 2 sections to this page: (1) God Testing People in The Bible, and (2) God as the Author of Evil: Are Satan and God Interchangeable?

2. Jesus Did Not Exist: I have added a long introductory paragraph, and added multiple quotes from Bart Ehrman and a bit from Karen Armstrong. This page needs a lot of work - there are several important books and authors on this topic that I ought to be mentioning (for example the dry Richard Carrier and the impassioned Acharya S). The parts on the birth of Jesus and on his death will be revamped too at some point.

3. The Book of Revelation: Some notes on authorship and symbolism.

4. The Birth of Jesus and the Christmas Story: Pagan and Unhistorical: I have revamped this page... given it an introduction before the menu, added notes from Prof. Bart Ehrman on historical proofs, and added a few other bits throughout the page.

5. Incest in the Bible: Adam and Eve and Their Children, and Noah and His Family: I've added a note on Warren Steed Jeffs, the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a spin-off from the Mormons).He got himself on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" on account of the scale of his sex crimes within his congregation, including sex with minors and incest. And I've added some paragraphs on the Parsis (Zoroastrians) in Hong Kong, where religious inhibitions against marrying outside causes severe problems with the 100-strong community. Zoroastrianism and its dogmas influenced Judaism, Chritsianity and Islam.

A load of updates on religion and Satanism

I've done quite a few updates, here are some of them:

• Prayer to God in Christianity and Islam: It is Useless and Satanic!: I've added a quote from Voltaire (1764) to the section "2. Praying is Against God's Will" and massively expanded section "3. Praying is Magic" with commentary of Justin Barret's investigations into people's choices of prayer in emergency situations. And to section "5. How to Pray in Islam, According to the Qur'an" I've added notes on several more Qur'anic verses, such as Qur'an 3:191, 5:6 and 17:107,110.

• Is God All-Powerful? Can God or Anything Truly Be Omnipotent?: I've added a 6th (important!) item to the list of things that an all-powerful god cannot do: omnipotency is incompatible with benevolence. Responsible for making every aspect of evil and suffering possible and for creating the long chain of cause and effect that results in disasters and influences people to choose wrongly, god is so absolutely responsible for all evil and pain that it renders it an amoral being at best, and at worst, an immoral one. And on that note, I've added Section 2 on The Problem of Evil. On a sociological bent, I've added section "5. The Ineffectiveness of God to Answer Prayers", which is about the way choices of prayers give away the fact that people are saying them more as magic words rather than saying them with the confidence that God itself can change the laws of physics (i.e., a link to the text mentioned in the first update mentioned in this entry!).

And three updates to my Satanism website:

• Misanthropy, Nihilism and Self-Worth: People are Shit, Boring and Stupid: Added two new paragraphs, including: "People attain varying shades of greatness. Some become great and lead humankind forward, successfully encouraging others to shake off their shackles and dogmas, and face the wondrous world with imagination and open-mindedness. Some become great through beauty, acting, entertainment, or other temporal endeavours, and find their egos drag them onwards. Both the humanistic greats and the egotistical greats are prone to thinking themselves better than others, and both can often be found bemoaning the state of the masses. Are you with me, or are you part of the deluded herd? Because of the two types of greatness I mention above, one is formed of breakable china, and the other is formed from rock, upon which we build humankind's greatest scientific, technological and moral victories. When looks and talent fade, who has left the enduring legacy on which others can build? They are the greats, and they are ones who have permission to announce their disgrace at the state of humankind! Follow them, copy them, be inspired by them and read their books!"

• Moojan Momen's 8 Pathways to Religious Experience: Categorizing Satanism: I've added this paragraph to section "1.7. Gnosticism". Momen's use of the word "gnosticism" is a little problematic, as, nearly all gnostic documents discvovered archeologically have been largely Christian affairs, having as a saviour a Christ figure who comes and reveals the necessary secret knowledge, and, being heavily centered on the ways in which the Old Testament god is defeated by the Good News. Momen's category mostly describes what are called mystery religions, rather than gnosticism. For this reason, although in 2007 when I first published this text I stated that there was a 4 out of 5 match between this category and Satanism, I am not revising that to 3 out of 5, due to the poor choice of category title by Moojan Momen. I follow this with a good description of actual Gnosticism.

• Righteous Satan Theologies: When Satan is Good: I've added section "2.3. Classical Gnosticism". Just added a few paragraphs on the Gnostics who were caught occasionally identifying with bad-guys such as Cain, Kresh and Judas. Because it turns out that if the God of this world is actually evil, then, those who oppose that god are in fact the good guys.

Scroll around these updated pages and look for the little "New" graphics as always, which Ziggy will leave in place for ~ 6 months for any new paragraph, quote, or section.

A few updates to some of my pages on religion

A few of these updates I done a few weeks ago, but I've been busy with University work so I'm only just around to posting this.

• Traditional Religions and Abolition of the Slave Trade - I've added a paragraph to section 1. The Early Slave Trade, War and Rejection of Slave Ownership : "Slavery was part of the culture of the entire Mesopotamian area (from which Judaism and Christianity arose) but in Babylon in the era of 1800 BCE, injury to slaves was a punishable offence, although the punishment was only a fine2, slaves were better off than in the surrounding areas. Organized Judaism arose from Babylon, and the God that they described in their holy writings happened to reveal to them laws and guidelines regarding slaves that were eerily similar to those found in the wider Babylonian community. Some use this fact to argue that all the verses regarding slaves are merely cultural artefacts, and not God's word."
  And I have also added half a dozen more verses to the text on the Old Testament and New Testament.

• Islam and the West: Pluralism, Immigration and Danger - Made a few minor updates and added section "4. Violent Fanaticism and Terrorism, Starting With Intolerance" with an example of the way a pro-evolution and pro-women's-choice cleric was forced out of his teaching role in the UK by anti-evolution and anti-women Muslims. The potential scope of what I could put on this page is staggering, so much so that I've chickened out and only made a few minor updates at the moment, due to time constraints.

• Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls - Added some stats to section "5.1. Hidden Secularisation" on American atheists; 4 in 20 of them still call themselves Christian or Jewish, and only 1/4 of them actually call themselves atheist.

And finally,

• Is the Christian God Evil? Evidence from Scripture and Nature - I've added a new section to the bits on the New Testament - "2.3. Jesus and the Crucifixion - A Trick". The whole scheme of the life of Jesus does not add up, and it is very hard to reconcile it with the plans of an all-knowing, good God. The crucifixion makes no sense, except if the God of the Bible is evil. Then the magic tricks are the successful attempts of an evil god to impress us simple mortals.

A few little updates to religion pages

• Monotheism and Free Will: God, Determinism and Fate - added a note on the contradiction between Omnipotence and Free Will (section #2), added a few more verses from Qur'an to the list of determinist verses, and re-ordered the page a little bit.

• Added section Atheism and Secularism #2. Lower-case or Upper-case Atheism? and commentary on the confused opinions of sociologist William Sims Bainbridge.

• The God of the Christian Bible is Evil: Evidence from Scripture and Nature - Added section "4. Sowing Seeds of Confusion - Not the Antics of a Good God" about Biblical statements on dreams, prophecies and the like and how they should be trusted, against the real-life situation that many conflicting religions and beliefs result from such visions. Also, the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11 has God create all the conflicting languages of mankind, because otherwise "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them".

And finally,

• Biblical Christianity Denies Free Will: I've added Matthew 5:45 to the section on predeterminism; although it isn't about salvation, it is at least about justice. The verses say that the sun and the rain afflict both the good and the evil amongst us. Also added a quote to section "4.5. The Church of England" from John William Draper (1881).

And in other news, I'm loving the summer heat even though it makes it harder to do my marathon training - mostly means I'm having to go running a bit later in the day than normal.

Christianity: Times in the Bible When God Doesn't Know All, and Tests People to Find Things Out

I've added a new section to http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/omniscience.html#Christianity:

The Bible says God is perfect in knowledge, knows all thoughts, all secrets, sees all and no-one can hide from God. See: 1 Samuel 2:3, Job 28:24; 37:16; 42:2, Psalm 44:21; 139:4,7-8; 147:5, Proverbs 15:3, Jeremiah 16:17, 23:24, Acts 1:24, Hebrews 4:13, Matthew 10:30 and 1 John 3:19-20. Yet there are plenty of times when God doesn't know things, such as where people are. Check these verses:

• Genesis 3:8-13 - Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, amongst the trees of the garden, and God had to go find them, and then asks them questions. Either Adam and Eve are so dumb that they can't grasp that God is all-knowing, or, God is genuinely asking because it doesn't know the answers.
• Genesis 18:20-21 - "²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”"
• Genesis 32:22-30 - In this obscure story, Jacob wrestles with God in bodily form and sees God face-to-face. God asks Jacob what Jacob's name is; yet an all-knowing god would surely know!
• Numbers 22:9 - Balaam and some Moabite officials spend a night waiting for God, who duly pops down for a visit, "And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?" An all-knowing God would have known.
• Job 1:7, 2:2 - "And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
• Hosea 8:4 - Some princes of Israel were set up without God's knowledge.

Sometimes, it is said in the Bible that God tests people. In Deuteronomy 8:1-2 God reveals that the 40-years in the wilderness was a test done by God to find out what was in people's hearts - whether they would still obey orders. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 God sends some false prophets and wonder-workers as tests to see if people will follow other gods, and in 2 Chronicles 32:31 God is doing similar fact-finding tests. Yet an all-knowing God, creator of all time, knows exactly who will pass any tests, and knows exactly what is in everyone's heart. So either God is lying about his reasons, or, god is not actually all-knowing. See: "God Never Needs to Test Us" by Vexen Crabtree (2005).

The Gospels and the Crucifixion - Differences in style

I have updated "The Crucifixion Facade" by Vexen Crabtree (2002) with a few biggish quotes from Bart Ehrman on the gospels' accounts of the crucifixion. Whilst there are well-known contradictions between thses accounts (who'd have thought that various people could have thought Jesus' last words were so different?!!), Ehrman's quotes summarize the totality of the style of these differences, and is the best summary on this topic. Find the quotes in section 3 of that page.