the Hypocracy of "christ" or the Corruption of the Bible?

There are many people who question wether or not Jesus lived at all. Though I am a fervent Atheist, I do not count myself among this crowd. Not only do I believe that Jesus likely existed, but I am fully willing to respect many of his teachings (though I am not sufficiently patient or humble to follow them). Furthermore, wether deserved or not, I am inclined to accept that he genuinely believed in the meaning of these teachings. Foremost among these is the virtue of humility. I find it hard to believe that a man who was willing to face the wrath of Rome, in order to freely discuss the need for humility, would base his lessons around being the offspring of a god & effectively the most important man on Earth. Even if it were true, a truly humble man would play that fact down and ensure that his followers paid more attention to his words than his "station". I find this highly suspect. To me it seems that either Jesus is a hypocrite who does not merit the credit that I give him (much less the adoration and worship of over a billion "christians") OR, more palatably, the Gospels, written over fourty years after the death of Jesus, have been corrupted by the agenda of those trying to spread a new religion in a hostile environment. This latter option seems the more sensicle.

Most of the accounts of Jesus that we follow today come from Saul of Tarsus, who knew very little of the life and personality of Jesus. Saul, originally, despised Christians and persecuted them for a living. When he became a "christian", assuming his conversion was genuine, he would have had alot to "attone" for, as well as a lot of internal convincing required for him to make such a life change. I think there's a good chance this is where the "Jesus is the son of god" thing originated. I strongly doubt that if Jesus is who he claimed to be (his message, not his supposed divinity) that he would declair incessantly to be divine.

In essence, if one maintains a sense of logic, one must choose between accepting the fallability of the Bible or accepting the hypocracy of "christ". Though I realize that christians are not generally known for their logic, this is a common sense issue that goes beyond the concept of a "leap of faith".

Guilt: Perpetuating a Myth for Two-Thousand Years and Counting

I personally think that to most people, wether or not they realize
it, god is a memory of tradition & the threat of guilt. Most people
are religious since they were children because, let's face it, its
alot harder to talk an adult into believing the grand, invisible man
trick. As children they're taught this fairy tale from their parents
and they buy into it. The catch is, unlike most other fairy tales, the
parents actually believe it! So the theists grow up following the
example of their 'rents & innevitably, even if they don't admit it,
doubt MUST come to them. However, admitting that the invisible man trick is just a myth would mean accepting that their entire life, until that point, was a lie. Worse than that, their parents, granparents, etc., who may be dead or dying, also lead lives based on nonsense. This is obviously hard to deal with. However, instead of finding a more sensicle way to define their lives, they prevent the true guilt of lying to themselves & allowing their loved ones to lie
to themselves, by subdueing their moment of clarity & continuing the
self deceit.

It is unfortunate that the majority of man kind eats up this spoon
fed nonsense, but that is the world we live in.

Faith and Ignorance in the 21st Century

We live in an age where human curiosity has pushed us, as a species, to develop an understanding of the world around us. This comprehension extends to lengths beyond that which our ancestors could have ever imagined. Knowledge of the atom now allows us to power our cities, or destroy those of others. Knowledge of human anatomy and bio-chemistry, has nearly doubled our life expectancy in the last 80 years. Even for the average man, true understanding of the universe we are a part of requires only to open the right right book or view the right website.

Despite the fact that knowledge flows through our society, like the blood that keeps us living, most people through out the world base their entire lives on a set of beliefs that can not be true. Based on common sense and the simplest facts of nature, men do not rise from the grave after three days of death; any plane of existence that can only be reached upon death, is as imaginative as tales of Tartarus or Valhalla; & any being who sentences you to an eternity of burning & torment, for not prostrating yourself, is neither merciful or loving.

Faith is defined as "belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence", this rings loudly of self-induced ignorance. Accepting myths without apporopriate evidence is a dangerous anachronism. Today we all face being murdered by fanatical Islamists, who consider themselves holy warriors. People who receive a spinal injury, or develop leukemia must face a life of misery or the end of their lives, because fundamentalist christians are impeding physicians in their attempts to help those with the greatest need. In this country, thousands of people are fined or incarcerated every year, for smoking marijuana, speaking "profanity", expressing their sexual nature, and inumerable other acts that are considered immoral by fundamentalists, and prohibited by our corrupt legislators. These are all consequences of faithful ignorance. This is the time for progress and forward thinking, yet there is a resurgence of the detrimental mindset that has slowed human progress since the decline of the Roman empire. For progress to continue unabated, it is necessary to encourage the public to abandon their antiquated beliefs & agree to move forward.

Atheist "Testimonial"

I was raised in a Pentecostal family. If the Catholic Church is known for being secretive & conspiratorial, the Pentecostals are known for being obsessive lunatics (the redneck "snake handlers" are an even more insane offshoot of Pentecostals).

My grandfather was a Pentecostal pastor in Cuba. He moved his family to America, where eventually one of his daughters met my father to be, A Cuban Catholic who's family intermingled (though barely practiced) Santeria along with Catholicism. My father, having listened to my grandfather's nonsense converted to a Pentecostal. Judging by how obsessed he would become with his crazy religion he
probably felt pretty guilty about his "blasphemous" santero-catholic adolescence.

After my parents divorced, I lived with my father for seven years, from age 10 to age 17. During this time I was forced to attend church every week, often several times a week, Including all night every Halloween, New Years and Easter. At church they would "speak in tongues" which I always thought meant screaming gibberish, loudly, while jumping around, knocking shit down & scaring the children.

Aside from my "language lessons" I also had to endure constant personal sermons & exclamations that I was aiming my life straight into hell. Regular anointments with oil on my forehead, CDs, video games, books, television. It was fucking ridiculous & messy. Enlarged bible verses were forced in & around my room instead of posters & my CD lyric sheets were scrutinized in mirrors in search of demonic intentions (not kidding). I had to change into my desired attire @ school because the way I chose to dress was not holy enough. And my books & CD collections were completely purged on more than one occasion. I could go on but this was meant to be more of a rant than a list.

People always tell me religion was so forcefully shoved right down my gullet that I was frightened out of it. My response to that is I was raised no differently than hundreds of thousands of other kids throughout America who fervently swallow up their parent's silly nonsense. My upbringing just made that shit so unpalatable that I was able to brake that ancient spell on my own.

Now I am an adult & I am free. I base my life & my actions on reason & pride. I see the way the country is going & I am horrified. The republican party has been absorbed by the religious right & is actively striving for theocracy. The Democratic party is weak & prefers to placate all ends than take action. I am still young & inexperienced but I hope that as I grow as a person I find myself able & willing to do whatever it takes to prevent the fanatics from achieving their goal.