Cooper
2nd October 2007, 07:06 PM
The Old Testament/Torah/Pentateuch with a solid push from the New Testament was the factor that really began, sustained, and finalized my journey to atheism. Through the course of my adolescence and early adulthood I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours studying these texts and associated supporting commentaries. The cracks in my faith began to form as I read and reread the atrocities committed by the “god” of these books or at this “god’s” command. The notion of “god’s chosen people” is also a very puzzling concept. The realities of human genetics indicate that “race” is a social construct. Genetically the differences between the various divisions of people do not exist. Therefore it is very bizarre that an “omniscient god” would separate out a group of people that are indistinguishable from any other group of Homo sapiens and declare them to be superior. Unfortunately we have three very large religious groups that each tend to believe they are “the chosen.”
The New Testament is several orders of magnitude less violent and genocidal than the Old Testament/Torah/Pentateuch. However the New Testament posed problems not unrelated. Once again the concept of “god’s chosen people” arises except this time it is not over meaningless “racial” groupings of people it is over meaningless conversions. Then there is the problem of the atonement. Here again is an “omniscient god” who this time requires that his “only begotten in the flesh” be murdered so that said “omniscient god” will not be required to destroy the rest of his children. This god, as the god of the Old Testament/Torah/so on and so forth, is supposedly omnipotent. Just who or what is requiring this “omnipotent” god to have his son murdered? Why not just forgive his other children and forget about the barbaric sacrifice? Then there is the ethical and potentially logical problems of making Jesus pay for everyone else’s mistakes. This is analogous to saying that because John made some mistakes we are going to kill Joe and this will make everything OK….hmmmm. I must be missing something because this really does not add up in my opinion.
Then as one really begins to dig, it becomes apparent that the bulk of the Judeo-Christian scriptures are borrowed myths and outright fabrications. The Old Testament/Torah/Pentateuch appears to be largely the work of one King Josiah in the 7th Century BCE for dubious political purposes. The New Testament appears to be written by people who could not possibly have known this person Jesus who, by the way, possibly never existed.
There is ample evidence or lack thereof that helps to illuminate the situation with King Josiah’s fable. For example the following:
"The historical evidence to back up these events is sparse, and, in some cases, contradictory. In particular, the account of Joshua's conquest of Canaan is inconsistent with the archaeological evidence. Cities supposedly conquered by Joshua in the 14th century bce were destroyed long before he came on the scene. Some, such as Ai and Arad, had been ruins for a 1000 years.
The Book of Judges, which directly contradicts Joshua, and shows the Israelites settling the land over a prolonged period, is nearer historical reality; but even it cannot be taken at face value.
The archaeological surveys conducted over the past two decades in the hills of Menasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin and Judah, on the west bank of the River Jordan, indicate that the origin and development of the Israelite entity was somewhat different from either of the rival accounts in the Bible. The survey was conducted by more than a dozen archaeologists, most of them from Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology. Their conclusions were published in "From Nomadism to Monarchy," edited by Prof. Israel Finkelstein and Prof. Nadav Na'aman." Jewish Virtual Library
Other sources reveal that King Josiah borrowed or fabricated the 6000-year-old earth fable aka “the creation myth” that is still causing much grief in the U.S. today. He and his cohorts also incorporated the whoppers of the universal deluge, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Egyptian captivity, the parting of the Red Sea, and the Exodus. Then enters in the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites who it appears were actually just a small band of Canaanites themselves and nothing was conquered.
Similarly there is no evidence of the events in the New Testament outside the writings in the New Testament. The oft quoted “support” from Flavius Josephus appears to have been inserted several centuries after Flavius’ demise by some unknown and misguided person or persons.
So here we have the Israelites who are really Canaanites, telling stories of things that never happened and atrocities that thankfully their ancestors never committed, and worshipping a god who is a hodgepodge collection of other gods’ characteristics from more ancient times. Then we have a group of authors, whose true identity will likely always be in doubt, writing about the sacrifice of a person who possibly never lived, for reasons that defy all logic. To make matters worse we have a certain Mohammed who may or may not have said all of the equally unbelievable whoppers that make up the Koran. So we add in another divisive text created by a man or group of men, who by the way is/are no different genetically from the Jews and Christians, who proceed to disparage, vilify, and threaten Jews/Christians/Infidels with genocide. Will the real “chosen people of god” please stand up? Why is everybody standing? Is it any wonder that atheists and agnostics are becoming more common?
It is really quite tragic that so many people make significant, life-altering decisions based on this unbelievable collection of illogical and destructive fables.
The New Testament is several orders of magnitude less violent and genocidal than the Old Testament/Torah/Pentateuch. However the New Testament posed problems not unrelated. Once again the concept of “god’s chosen people” arises except this time it is not over meaningless “racial” groupings of people it is over meaningless conversions. Then there is the problem of the atonement. Here again is an “omniscient god” who this time requires that his “only begotten in the flesh” be murdered so that said “omniscient god” will not be required to destroy the rest of his children. This god, as the god of the Old Testament/Torah/so on and so forth, is supposedly omnipotent. Just who or what is requiring this “omnipotent” god to have his son murdered? Why not just forgive his other children and forget about the barbaric sacrifice? Then there is the ethical and potentially logical problems of making Jesus pay for everyone else’s mistakes. This is analogous to saying that because John made some mistakes we are going to kill Joe and this will make everything OK….hmmmm. I must be missing something because this really does not add up in my opinion.
Then as one really begins to dig, it becomes apparent that the bulk of the Judeo-Christian scriptures are borrowed myths and outright fabrications. The Old Testament/Torah/Pentateuch appears to be largely the work of one King Josiah in the 7th Century BCE for dubious political purposes. The New Testament appears to be written by people who could not possibly have known this person Jesus who, by the way, possibly never existed.
There is ample evidence or lack thereof that helps to illuminate the situation with King Josiah’s fable. For example the following:
"The historical evidence to back up these events is sparse, and, in some cases, contradictory. In particular, the account of Joshua's conquest of Canaan is inconsistent with the archaeological evidence. Cities supposedly conquered by Joshua in the 14th century bce were destroyed long before he came on the scene. Some, such as Ai and Arad, had been ruins for a 1000 years.
The Book of Judges, which directly contradicts Joshua, and shows the Israelites settling the land over a prolonged period, is nearer historical reality; but even it cannot be taken at face value.
The archaeological surveys conducted over the past two decades in the hills of Menasseh, Ephraim, Benjamin and Judah, on the west bank of the River Jordan, indicate that the origin and development of the Israelite entity was somewhat different from either of the rival accounts in the Bible. The survey was conducted by more than a dozen archaeologists, most of them from Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology. Their conclusions were published in "From Nomadism to Monarchy," edited by Prof. Israel Finkelstein and Prof. Nadav Na'aman." Jewish Virtual Library
Other sources reveal that King Josiah borrowed or fabricated the 6000-year-old earth fable aka “the creation myth” that is still causing much grief in the U.S. today. He and his cohorts also incorporated the whoppers of the universal deluge, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Egyptian captivity, the parting of the Red Sea, and the Exodus. Then enters in the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites who it appears were actually just a small band of Canaanites themselves and nothing was conquered.
Similarly there is no evidence of the events in the New Testament outside the writings in the New Testament. The oft quoted “support” from Flavius Josephus appears to have been inserted several centuries after Flavius’ demise by some unknown and misguided person or persons.
So here we have the Israelites who are really Canaanites, telling stories of things that never happened and atrocities that thankfully their ancestors never committed, and worshipping a god who is a hodgepodge collection of other gods’ characteristics from more ancient times. Then we have a group of authors, whose true identity will likely always be in doubt, writing about the sacrifice of a person who possibly never lived, for reasons that defy all logic. To make matters worse we have a certain Mohammed who may or may not have said all of the equally unbelievable whoppers that make up the Koran. So we add in another divisive text created by a man or group of men, who by the way is/are no different genetically from the Jews and Christians, who proceed to disparage, vilify, and threaten Jews/Christians/Infidels with genocide. Will the real “chosen people of god” please stand up? Why is everybody standing? Is it any wonder that atheists and agnostics are becoming more common?
It is really quite tragic that so many people make significant, life-altering decisions based on this unbelievable collection of illogical and destructive fables.