When it comes to the dominant religions of the world they are, for the most part, based on a holy book. Religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam claim to be peaceful as well as there version god. But the question must be asked which of these holy books has the highest number of cruel and violent passages in its pages? Can the claim of a peaceful and loving god be squared with the words from their own holy books. The statistics might surprise you.
First lets start with the holy books of the Jews and the Christians called the Bible. With quotes like Numbers 31:14-18 which says that it is okay with god to kill all the males and then rape every female virgin that survived the attack by the Israelites. Or in the Book of Hebrews 10: 28-29 which said a far crueler fate befalls people who displeases Jesus. While New Testament has no tales of mass murder there is the language of violence against the enemies of Christianity itself. And later on when the Christians get control of the levers of power they would use this violent language to justify the horrendous atrocities that Christianity was famous for. But the total number of cruel and violent acts in the total Bible is 907.
Now lets see what the Koran has to offer. Surah 5:33 says “The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;” Or Surah 7:78 in which the loving Allah killed a bunch of people who disbelieve him with an earthquake. There are many more; but the total number of violent and cruel actions in this book is 520.
So the winner is the Bible by a large number. But the Bible has a lot more pages than the Koran and therefore a higher number of cruelties and violence would be expected. Probably a more accurate measurement would be percentages. Then the Bible’s percentage would be 2.91% and the Koran’s would be 8.34% . Against this measure the Koran wins hands down.
Whatever the outcome of this contest it shows that the gods and the followers of these religions has ordered, committed, or justified acts of unspeakable violence against their fellow human beings. And in the end has lost all moral and ethical authority.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
A Bisexual Orgy In Eden
A common refrain I hear from the anti-gay movement is that god created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. This colorful little poem is pertaining to the to the first chapters of the Old Testament in which, among other things, tells of the six day creation of the universe by the Judeo - Christian god and the creation of the first members humanity as well. Well the biblical literalists have missed something there are two creation of human stories in the Bible. Which means, if it is taken literally, that their were four humans at the beginning of the world not two. Which means that the possibility of homosexuality and bisexuality has just increased.
In Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27 it is written “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” So both a male and a female were created from the same stuff at the same time. That would make total number of humans, so far, in the world at around two people.
But then there is Genesis Chapter 2 verses 21 - 23 and this is the more traditional version of this story we all heard about. The one where man was created first and then later on, to combat Adam’s loneliness, a women called Eve was created out of Adam’s rib. Then the story goes on about life in the garden, the temptation, subsequent expulsion from the Eden paradise, and the cursing of all mankind forever. Now the total number of humans in the world is now at four. Because we do not find anywhere in this text that the Chapter One humans were destroyed we must assume that they were around when the Chapter 2 humans were created and thus this is why I now count the total human population at four, if you take the Bible as the inerrant word of god this must be the only explanation that makes any kind of sense.
Mind you the Jews of the ancient world saw this discrepancy and wanting their Bible make sense they made up a story and put it in their Midrash in an effort to try to explain away this problem. But the Midrash is not a holy book of the Christians, as far as I know.
So the problem with the Christian opposition homosexuality is that, if they believe that their holy book is without error, how do you explain that problem away without coming up some kind of ludicrous rationalization. Then if you think your holy book is inerrant then must accept the possibility that their could have been gay and lesbian sex among the first humans. Or at the least the first humans were raving bisexuals having their way with each other in every way, at every chance they got like some Edenic orgy. Sounds more like a plot to some porn movie than a holy book.
Or simply that these are mythical stories that were written by two different human beings at different times and shoved into the Old Testament without regard to any kind of rhyme or reason. So when you hear that colorful little anti-gay rhyme, you tell them that yes their was an Adam and a Eve but also their were a Steve and a Jane as well.
In Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27 it is written “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” So both a male and a female were created from the same stuff at the same time. That would make total number of humans, so far, in the world at around two people.
But then there is Genesis Chapter 2 verses 21 - 23 and this is the more traditional version of this story we all heard about. The one where man was created first and then later on, to combat Adam’s loneliness, a women called Eve was created out of Adam’s rib. Then the story goes on about life in the garden, the temptation, subsequent expulsion from the Eden paradise, and the cursing of all mankind forever. Now the total number of humans in the world is now at four. Because we do not find anywhere in this text that the Chapter One humans were destroyed we must assume that they were around when the Chapter 2 humans were created and thus this is why I now count the total human population at four, if you take the Bible as the inerrant word of god this must be the only explanation that makes any kind of sense.
Mind you the Jews of the ancient world saw this discrepancy and wanting their Bible make sense they made up a story and put it in their Midrash in an effort to try to explain away this problem. But the Midrash is not a holy book of the Christians, as far as I know.
So the problem with the Christian opposition homosexuality is that, if they believe that their holy book is without error, how do you explain that problem away without coming up some kind of ludicrous rationalization. Then if you think your holy book is inerrant then must accept the possibility that their could have been gay and lesbian sex among the first humans. Or at the least the first humans were raving bisexuals having their way with each other in every way, at every chance they got like some Edenic orgy. Sounds more like a plot to some porn movie than a holy book.
Or simply that these are mythical stories that were written by two different human beings at different times and shoved into the Old Testament without regard to any kind of rhyme or reason. So when you hear that colorful little anti-gay rhyme, you tell them that yes their was an Adam and a Eve but also their were a Steve and a Jane as well.
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