Doug Kreuger has expanded the well-known Christian legend of the atheist philosophy professor who is unable to prove that he has a brain. (Special thanks to Steven Carr for this post.)

“LET ME EXPLAIN THE problem science has with Jesus Christ.” The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. “You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So you believe in God?”

“Absolutely.”

“Is God good?”

“Sure! God’s good.”

“Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?”

“Yes.”

“Are you good or evil?”

“The Bible says I’m evil.”

The professor grins knowingly. “Ahh! THE BIBLE!” He considers for a moment.

“Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here, and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?”

“Yes sir, I would.”

“So you’re good…!”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could…in fact most of us would if we could… God doesn’t.”

No answer.

“He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?”

No answer.

The elderly man is sympathetic. “No, you can’t, can you?” He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. “Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?”

“Er… Yes.”

“Is Satan good?”

“No.”

“Where does Satan come from?”

The student falters. “From…God…”

“That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he?” The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen.” He turns back to the Christian. “Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? Did God make everything?”

“Yes.”

“Who created evil?”

No answer.

“Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things – do they exist in this world?”

The student squirms on his feet. “Yes.”

“Who created them?”

No answer.

The professor suddenly shouts at his student. “WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!” The professor closes in for the kill and climb into the Christian’s face.

In a still small voice: “God created all evil, didn’t He, son?” No answer. The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails.

Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. “Tell me,” he continues, “How is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?” The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. “All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn’t it, young man?”

No answer.

“Don’t you see it all over the place? Huh?” Pause. “Don’t you?” The professor leans into the student’s face again and whispers, “Is God good?”

No answer.

“Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?”

The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. “Yes, professor. I do.”

The old man shakes his head sadly. “Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen your Jesus?”

“No, sir. I’ve never seen Him.”

“Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?”

“No, sir. I have not.”

“Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus… In fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?”

No answer.

“Answer me, please.”

“No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.”

“You’re AFRAID… you haven’t?”

“No, sir.”

“Yet you still believe in him?”

“…yes…”

“That takes FAITH!” The professor smiles sagely at the underling. “According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?”

The student doesn’t answer.

“Sit down, please.”

The Christian sits…Defeated.

Another Christian raises his hand. “Professor, may I address the class?”
The professor turns and smiles. “Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering.”
The Christian looks around the room. “Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I’ve got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?”
‘Yes,” the professor replies. “There’s heat.”

“Is there such a thing as cold?”
“Yes, son, there’s cold too.”

“No, sir, there isn’t.”

The professor’s grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.

The second Christian continues. “You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 – You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

“Silence.
A pin drops somewhere in the classroom. “Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?”

“That’s a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn’t darkness? What are you getting at…?”

“So you say there is such a thing as darkness?”

“Yes…”

“You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly, you have nothing, and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you…give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?”

Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him.
This will indeed be a good semester. “Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?”

“Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error….”

The professor goes toxic. “Flawed…? How dare you…!”

“Sir, may I explain what I mean?” The class is all ears.

“Explain… oh, explain…” The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

“You are working on the premise of duality,” the Christian explains. “That for example there is life and then here’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it.” The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. “Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?”

“Of course there is, now look…”

“Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?” The Christian pauses. “Isn’t evil the absence of good?”

The professor’s face has turned an alarming color. He is so angry he is temporarily speechless.

The Christian continues. “If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil.”

The professor bridles. “As a philosophical scientist, I don’t view this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable.”

“I would have thought that the absence of God’s moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going,” the Christian replies. “Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?”

“If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.”

“Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?”
The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare. “Professor. Since no-one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?”

“I’ll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?” the professor hisses.

“So you don’t accept God’s moral code to do what is righteous?”
“I believe in what is – that’s science!”

“Ahh! SCIENCE!” the student’s face spits into a grin. “Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed…”

“SCIENCE IS FLAWED..?” the professor splutters.

The class is in uproar. The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided. “To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?”

The professor wisely keeps silent.

The Christian looks around the room. “Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?”

The class breaks out in laughter.

The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. “Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain… felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain?”

No one appears to have done so.

The Christian shakes his head sadly. “It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor’s brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says the professor has no brain.”

The class is in chaos. The Christian sits… Because that is what a chair is for.

The professor, amused at the student’s antics, asks the student whether he’s ever read anything about science.

“No,” says the student. “I only know what I’ve heard in church.”

“That explains your ignorance about what science is, young man,” says the professor. “Empirical knowledge of something does not always entail direct observation. We can observe the effects of something and know that it must exist. Electrons have not been observed, but they can create an observable trail that can be observed, so we can know they exist.”

“Oh,” said the Christian.

“No one has observed my heart, but we can hear it beating. We also know from empirical knowledge of people that no one can live without a heart, real or manufactured, or at least not without being also hooked up to some medical equipment. So we can know that I have a heart even though we have not seen it.”

“Oh, I see. That makes sense,” said the Christian student.

“Similarly, we can know that I have a brain. I wouldn’t be able to talk, walk, and so on unless I had one, would I?” said the professor.

“I guess not.”

“In fact, if I had no brain I couldn’t do anything at all. Except maybe become a televangelist!”

The class broke up with laughter. Even the Christian laughed.
“Evolution is known to be true because of evidence,” continued the professor. “It is the best explanation for the fossil record. Even prominent creationists admit that the transition from reptiles to mammals is well documented in the fossil record. A creationist debate panel, including Michael Behe and Philip Johnson, conceded this on a televised debate on PBS. It was on Buckley’s “Firing Line” show. Did you see it?”

The Christian student cleared his throat and said in a low voice, “My mom won’t let me watch educational TV. She thinks it will weaken my faith.”

The professor shook his head sadly. “Knowledge does have a way of doing that,” he said. “But in any case, evolution is also the best explanation for phenomena that have been observed.”

The Christian student sputters, “You–you mean we HAVE seen it?”
“Of course. Evolution has occured within recent times, and it continues to occur. Birds and insects not native to Hawaii were introduced just a couple of centuries ago and have evolved to take better advantage of the different flora. So this evolution has taken place within recorded history. Recent history. Did you know that?”

“Uh, no.”

“Viruses other diseases evolve to become resistant to medicine. This is not only observed but it is a major problem that science must confront every day. Mosquitos in the tunnels of London’s underground have evolved to become separate species because of their isolation from other groups of mosquitos. But enough about evolution. That doesn’t have anything to do with our issue, evil, does it?”

“Well…”

“What does it have to do with our issue?” asked the professor.

“Well, if you don’t believe in god, then you must believe we came from apes.”

The professor laughed. “Evolutionists don’t believe that people came from apes or even monkeys. They believe that humans and apes had a common ancestor.”

“Wow!” said the Christian. “That’s not what they told me at church.”
“I’m sure. They can’t refute evolution so they have to spread misinformation about it. But don’t you know that many Christians believe that god made humans by evolution?”

“I didn’t know that.”

“In fact, of the four people who debated the evolution side on PBS, on William F. Buckley’s ‘Firing Line,’ which I just mentioned, two of them were theists. One of them is a reverend, in fact.”

“Really?”

“Really. Many denominations of Christianity embrace evolution.

Catholicism, the largest denomination of Christianity, is compatible with evolution. So evolution is not relevant here, is it?”

“I guess not.”

“Even if it were true that you have to be an atheist to believe evolution, which is not the case, and even if it were the case that evolution was unsupported by evidence, which is also not the case, this would not explain evil at all, would it. It is irrelevant.”

“I see that now,” said the Christian. “I don’t even know why I brought it up. I guess I thought it was an example of how you believe something without evidence.”

“Well,” said the professor. “As you can see, it is not. There is plenty of evidence for evolution. And even if there were no evidence, this has no bearing on the issue of evil. As we proceed through the philosophy course, you will see how to use your reasoning ability to separate important issues from irrelevant ones.”

“I’m guess learning already,” said the student, looking at the floor.
“But back to the problem of evil,” said the professor. “You stated that evil is the absence of good. How does that solve the problem of evil?”
The student said lifelessly: “If evil is the absence of good, then god did not create evil.” It was evident that this was something the student had learned by rote and had often repeated.

The professor shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, let’s suppose for the moment that this is true. This still does not explain evil. If a tidal wave wipes out a whole town, and 100,000 people die, is that evil?”
“There is the absence of good,” said the student.

“But so what? The problem is why god did not prevent the disaster. If god is all-powerful he can prevent it, and if he is all-knowing he knows that it is about to happen. So whether he created the tidal wave is not relevant. What we want to know is why he did not do anything to stop it.”

The student looked confused. “But why should he prevent it? It’s not his fault.”

“If a human being had the power to prevent a tidal wave wiping out a town, and this person intentionally failed to stop it, we would not say that the person is good. Even if the person said, ‘It’s not my fault,’ we would be appalled that someone could stand by and do nothing as thousands die. So if god does not prevent natural disasters, and he is able to do so, we should not say that god is good by the same reasoning. In fact, we would probably say that god is evil.”

The Christian student thought for a moment. “I guess I’d have to agree.”

“So redefining evil as the absence of good does nothing to solve the problem of evil,” said the professor. “At best it shows that god did not create it, but this does not explain why god does not prevent it.”
The Christian student shook a finger at the professor. “But that’s according to our human standards. What if god has a higher morality? We can’t judge him by our standards.”

The professor laughed. “Then you just lost your case. If you admit that god does not fit our definition of good, then we should not call him good. Case closed.”

“I don’t understand,” said the student, wrinkling his brow.

“If I go outside and see a vehicle with four tires, a metal body, a steering wheel, a motor and so on, and it fits the definition of a car, is it a car?” “Of course it is,” said the Christian student. “That’s what a car is.”

“But what if someone says that on some other definition it could be considered an airplane. Does that mean it’s not a car?”

“No,” said the student. “It still fits the definition of a car. That’s what we mean by saying that it’s a car. It doesn’t fit the definition of an airplane, so we shouldn’t call it that.”

“Exactly,” said the professor. “If it fits the definition, then that’s what it is. If god fits the definition of good, then he is good. If he does not, then he is not. If you admit that he does not fit our definition of good, then he is not good. It does no good to say that he could be ‘good’ in some other definition. If we want to know whether he is good by our definition, you have answered that question. God is not good.”

“I don’t believe it!” said the Christian student. “A few minutes ago I would have laughed at the suggestion that god is not good, but now I actually agree. God doesn’t fit the definition of good, so he’s not good.”
“There you go,” said the professor.

“But wait a minute,” said the student. “God could still be good in some other definition even if we don’t call him good. Despite what we think, god could still have his own morality that says he’s good. Even if we couldn’t call him good, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t good on some definition. He could have his own definition anyway.”

“Oh, you would not want to push the view that god might be good in some other definition,” said the professor.

“Why not?” “Well, if he has definitions of things that are radically different from our own, he might have a different definition of lots of other things. He might have his own definitions of such things as eternal reward, or eternal life. Your supposed eternal life in heaven might just be a year, or it could be a thousand years of torture. God could just say he has a definition of reward that includes excruciating torture as part of the definition.”

“That’s right!” said the Christian, jumping up. His eyes were wide open. “If god can redefine any word, then anything goes. God could send all believers to what we call hell and say that it is heaven. He could give us ten days in heaven and say that that’s his definition of eternity!”

“Now you’re thinking!” said the professor, pointing a finger at the student. “This is what a philosophy class is supposed to do for students.”

The Christian student continued. “God could promise us eternal life and then not give it to us and say that’s his definition of keeping a promise!”

“Yes, yes,” said the professor.

“I can’t believe I used to fall for this Christianity stuff. It’s so indefensible,” said the student, shaking his head. “Just a few moment’s thought and all the arguments that my church gave me in Sunday school just collapse.”

“So it would seem,” said the professor.

“I’m going to go to my church tonight and give the pastor a piece of my mind. They never tell me about important stuff like this. And they sure didn’t tell me the truth about evolution!”

The student, who stood up as a Christian, now sat down as an atheist. And he started using his brain–because that’s what it’s for. The other students in the class sat there, stunned, for a few moments. They knew they had witnessed the changing of a person’s life, the redirection of a young mind from falsehood and religious dogma to the honest pursuit of truth.

The students looked at each other and then began applauding. This soon gave way to cheering. The professor took a bow, laughing. When the students calmed down he continued his lecture, and class attendance was high for the rest of the semester.

Top 5 votes as of 11 am, Nov 18. 25 hours until voting ends.

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Remember, prayers don’t win contests, votes do.

Greetings my fellow Padawans,
Many Christians are cashing in the Star Wars universe, connecting their belief with Star Wars terminologies like “The Force”, “Jedi”, etc.

Well… I really do not know anything about Christian business strategies and tactics but I know something about the Star Wars Universe.

So hold and get ready ‘coz we’ll be going hyperspace!!!

Point 1: Is “The Force” God?
Answer: No

Allot of believer says that The Force is the same as God to connect Star Wars and justify it to be the same with their belief. But Master Obi-Wan has already told us what The Force is.

The Force was a metaphysical, binding, and ubiquitous power that held enormous importance for both the Jedi and Sith monastic orders. The Force was viewed in many different aspects, including, but not limited to, the light side, the dark side, the Unifying Force, and the Living Force. The first two aspects were concerned with the moral compass of the Force in its various manifestations. The light side of the Force was the facet aligned with compassion, courage, healing, and benevolence, while the dark side of the Force was the element aligned with hatred, fear, aggression, and malevolence. The latter two aspects were defined by prominent Jedi philosophies: The Unifying Force essentially embraced space and time in its entirety while the Living Force dealt with the energy of living things. Though the Force was categorized in this way, there were no specific abilities or powers that were only usable by a follower of a different path of the Force; the Force partially existed inside the life forms that used it, and drew energy from their emotions.

In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the original Star Wars film, the Force is first described by Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi as an energy field created by all living things, that surrounds and penetrates living beings and binds the galaxy together.

He said that The Force,
“…is an energy field generated by living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

So, it’s an energy field generated or created by living things. It is created. The Force is generated by all living things and is an inextricable part of life itself. Nevertheless there exist inanimate objects and places which are strong in one side of the Force or the other. The Force exists in all life, and when great amounts of life pass away, a disturbance is created, running through the Force like a scream which only Force-adept can hear.

The Force can enhance natural physical and mental abilities, including strength and accuracy. Manifestations of the Force, which were mentally-based abilities and tapped through the practitioner’s willpower, could take many forms, and included telepathy, psychokinesis, and enhanced physical and metaphysical perception. The Force could be used to bend the will of weak-minded beings and guide an adept’s body. Users who were very good at using the Force could cease merely reacting to their surroundings and actually predict events in the very near future, such as the next blow in a duel.

“The Force is what gives the Jedi his power.”

So it say that the Force can be manipulate and use to one’s advantage. But if you are not purge with elements that leads to its dark side, then it cannot be controlled and become addictive, which leads to curruption.

Also, notice that the Force is not worshipped. There is not temple for the Force, only an academy that is located in Corruscant.

Point 2: The Force has two sides.
Unlike the Judeo-Christian God, the Force is expressed with two opposites, it has an evil side but within the same nature. More like the Yin-Yang of Taoism.

The evil in the Force is not about temptations and sin. It’s about discipline and balance.

Master Yoda is very clear on that matter. “A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side! Anger,
fear, aggression – the dark side of the Force are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”

“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

The dark side of the Force comes from the hate, vengeance, malice in all living things, one’s own will to power, ego, and selfishness. They must be purge from your life to achieve discipline and provides insight into the ethical use of the Force.

So there, I hope I shed some light on Christian mischief regarding The Force. There is nothing Christian on the Star Wars Universe. It is a mixture of Eastern mysticism and discipline with a touch of romantic chivalry and space-age adventure.

You don’t need to enroll in a Jedi Academy in Corusscant or to have a large metaclorian count to learn that.

…continued from Rabbits Part Two: Deeper Into The Forest

The man woke up with a headache. It was still light so he figured that he had slept for only a few hours. He knew he had to hurry and face that which scared him, for he did not come this far just to turn back and head out of the forest.

Still groggy, he took off his clothes and jumped into the stream. The sudden shock of cold water jolted his senses back to life. Reinvigorated, he got out of the water, put his clothes back on and mounted his horse.

Part of him did want to turn back, for what he was about to do he found distasteful. But he knew he had to do it, otherwise he would never find peace with himself in his new life outside the forest, and the only way for that to happen was for him to have closure in his old life.

Riding as fast as the fading light allowed, his heart too was racing because he knew that he was nearing his destination. And soon enough, he saw the clearing.

Slowing down, his chest felt heavy once more. More than that, he felt guilt, and sadness, because when he saw his village, his people, his home, he knew that he no longer lived there. Then as if that wasn’t enough, he felt a hopeless despair, because he knew in his heart that he had never really lived there at all.

He brought his horse to a walk as he entered the village of the Fenek, or what he secretly and mockingly called “The Rabbit People”.

He was first greeted by his thirteen year-old cousin Kannello, who was already running towards him. “Ghaqli!” the boy cried. “It’s Ghaqli! Ghaqli!”

Ghaqli smiled when he saw the boy, now almost a young man. He could still remember Kannello as a small kid the last time he saw him. How time had passed. “Kannello! My Ku Kannello! How you’ve grown!”

“You’re back, Ku Ghaqli! You’re finally back!” And Ghaqli alighted his horse and hugged his cousin. Kannello quickly said, “Come, come, surely the chief wants to see you.”

“And how is Chief Ka Boxxla?”

“Oh, he is well. He had been waiting everyday for your return. It’s been two years but he knew that you would come back to take your place among the Fenek. We missed your cooking. The new village cook, the one who took over from you, uses a white crystalline powder. We don’t like it because it puts too much flavor and the taste seems so artificial, and there was an increase in the number of dog poisoning and a decrease in sexual activity.”

Hmmm…missed me for my cooking, my natural way of cooking that promotes good health. You rabbits. All you care about is food and sex. No wonder why I left. “Is that so? That’s good, except for the dogs. Be sure not to feed them anything prepared by the village cook. If you can’t cook on your own that’s fine, because dogs eat raw meat.”

“But what about us? We don’t eat raw meat!”

“That’s why you have your village cook. His cooking is good for you, good for this village, good for this entire ecosystem.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Ku Ghaqli. Could you please explain?”

“Ku Kannello, better take me to Ka Boxxla. I need to talk to him in private before I address the rest of the village. My time here is very short.”

“But Ku Ghaqli…”

“Take me to Ka Boxxla, Ku Kannello. Please, let us hurry.” Kannello hesitated, but seeing the urgency in Ghaqli’s eyes, he relented and took his long-lost cousin to the chief’s house.

While they walked across the village, his old neighborhood, Ghaqli noticed that nothing much had changed especially in what he felt, or more importantly, what he did not feel around the place. He could not understand why no one else left the village, but being a fair man, he was never quick to judge. Still, he knew with all honesty that he could not live in this place for one more day.

“Ghaqli!”, cried the chief as he embraced his long-lost tribesman. I knew you’d come back! I thought it would be sooner though, much sooner than this. Nevertheless, you’re here and that’s all that matters. And it isn’t too late because my daughter Fidda is still turning twenty. She was seventeen when you left, and had you married her then, you would have had kids by now.”

“Ka Boxxla, please, let us not talk about the might-have-beens. I have a graver matter to discuss.”

“I see. What do we need to talk about then?”

“I am leaving here for good. I can’t live here anymore. I don’t want to live here. I do not feel alive in here.”

“What are you talking about? Can’t you see how happy we are, here together?”

How happy you are, here together. “I am sorry Ka Boxxla, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, and I never mean to insult you, but whatever it is that keeps you happy here, I do not see it, do not feel it. In fact, I never once experienced it in all the years that I lived here.”

The chief bowed his head and wiped a single tear from his eye. “How sad to see you leave the village again, and for good, you say?” Then Ka Boxxla lifted his head and looked hard at Ghaqli. “But infinitely sadder still is to know how empty you had been all your life here. I am sure you have your reasons, and whatever is there outside the forest that caught your heart, we respect that. You will have to explain – not justify – just explain, that to the whole village though, as a courtesy. They deserve that from you.”

“Of course. That is my intention.”

“Very well then my dear Ghaqli. But you will have to tell your story to the village tomorrow, for tonight we shall feast! You arrived at the right time, because a traveling merchant had just traded a cartload of seafood for three of our cows. You shall do the cooking tonight, so the village can savor great food one last time.”

“What kinds of seafood? Are they fresh?”

“Lobsters, scallops, squids, and some very nice but very rare fish I don’t even know what it’s called. The trader said they were caught this morning, and they were transported all the way here covered in sea salt. ”

“Then have some volunteers wash them down with fresh water, and others to prepare a fire – make that four fires side by side in a single line, and a pot above each fire.  And I need four people to help me in the preparation.”

“Very well”, said the chief, and barked out his orders. Men and women went about to wash the salt off the seafood and build the fires. After a while four women came to Ghaqli, each carrying a large basket, one for each kind of seafood.

Ghaqli taught them how clean and prepare the shells, shellfish, and fish, and when he was satisfied that they got it right he went to the village garden to get some herbs and spices.

When he came back with a bagful of leaves, roots, barks, and seeds, all the seafood had already been cleaned and readied for cooking because the other villagers had helped. The fires were now also burning, heating the pots hanging above them. Satisfied, Ghaqli instructed the women to put the seafood into their separate pots. Next he crushed some leaves and dropped them in two of the pots but not in the others. He did the same with the roots, barks, and seeds. No two pots had the same combination of the herbs and spices, and yet the smells from all four pots seemed to blend perfectly, whetting the appetites of the villagers.  He took two large wooden spoons and stirred the pots two at a time and covered them, letting the ingredients simmer for a few minutes.

“I need some of our village wine,” he told Ka Boxxla.

“Bring out the inbid!” shouted the chief, and several young men arrived, one of them Kannello, carrying jugs of inbid, the famous village wine originally concocted by Ghaqli himself.

Ghaqli took one jug with each hand and poured them into the four pots, but not evenly, as he filled some pots more than the others. Then he took two more jugs and poured them both into the pot filled with fish, and loosely covered all of them.

Now the vapors escaping into the air were driving the villagers crazy, and Ghaqli suggested that all of them first have a cup of wine to wash the tongue so that no stale taste may corrupt the flavors of the dishes. They obliged, and after a drink they lined up for the pots and started to feast on lobsters, scallops, squids, and some very nice rare fish. Ghaqli told them to wash each bite with wine especially when shifting between two kinds of seafood so that the flavors don’t overlap with one another, otherwise he might as well have cooked it all in one big pot. Again they obliged, for they knew that no one else knew more about food than Ghaqli. And how they ate and drank.

Around midnight when everyone was full and a bit drunk, some a bit more than the others, Ghaqli asked Ka Boxxla if he could address the village now.

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow morning?” said the chief. “We are having a great feast, all of our people think that you came home for good, and now you’re going to ruin it by telling them that you only came home to finally say goodbye? How cruel could you be?”

“Which is crueler,” replied Ghaqli, “to tell them now or tomorrow? If I tell them now at their drunken state their festive mood will weaken the blow. If I tell them tomorrow morning when they are hungover, the headache will make any bad news seem like the end of the world.”

“You have a point there, my wise friend.” And Ka Boxxla called the attention of the villagers. “Our friend Ghaqli has something say to all of us.” And with that he sat down and patted Ghaqli on the back, urging him to speak.

Ghaqli hesitated for a second, and hesitated for real, because although he already made up his mind on leaving this village for good, he realized that a very small part of him actually longed for this place, for these people. Then he thought of his life outside the forest, and how he felt so much more alive out there.

He took a cup and poured wine into it, and he drank deep and drank it all. He put the cup down, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said, “My friends, I am very thankful for this great feast that we have all prepared. This is a great night, and how I wish all nights were like this.

“But my friends, we all know that all nights cannot be like this, no matter how we may wish it to be so.  And now it is with deep regret that I tell you that this will be the last night that I will sharing with you.”

The villagers gasped, and Fidda, the chief’s daughter to whom Ghaqli was betrothed, shouted “No!”, but Ka Boxxla hushed them up. “Please let Ghaqli finish,” he said, and nodded to Ghaqli.

Ghaqli nodded back, and said, “Tomorrow I shall no longer be with you. At the break of dawn I shall be heading out of the forest, back to the place where I now live, my new home.”

“But why?” asked Fidda. “Aren’t you happy here with us? What could be there outside the forest that you would choose over us?”

“Fidda, my dear Fidda, you wouldn’t understand. Even if I told you, even if I took you out there to see for yourself, you still wouldn’t understand, because you have to be me to see things through my own eyes.”

“But Ghaqli…”

“Fidda!” Ka Boxxla cut her off. “Everyone, please, let us respect Ghaqli’s decision.”

Fidda wept, and Ghaqli’s heart melted. He poured another cup of wine and drank, and noticed how his feelings were starting to numb, and he was thankful for that.

“Goodbye Fidda. Goodbye all of you. This pains me more than you could imagine. But I am just not happy here anymore.”

Everyone was sad, and Fidda continued crying. Then Ka Boxxla said, “Come on everyone. Let us all drink some more wine. Ghaqli is leaving, but that is his choice, and we cannot compel him to stay, because it is so much sadder to hold a man whose heart is far away.”

Everyone thought of what Ka Boxxla had said, including Fidda, and they all refilled their cups and drank more wine. And after a while they began to accept the reality of Ghaqli’s leaving, and slowly the spirit of gloom lifted from the air, and they continued to eat and drink through the night.

Ghaqli sat by the fire, cup in hand, and took a long look at his villagers, at Kannello, at Ka Boxxla, and finally at Fidda, who stared back at him and made an attempt to smile amid the tears.

And Ghaqli smiled back, but mostly he smiled to himself, because he knew that he was now truly free. He filled his cup once more, almost to the brim, and he drank.

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Thanks to Carlo Ople, Benj, Tania, and I had an enlightening evening with Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. It was enlightening for this skeptic to see that there was still a flicker of hope in our government.

Here is a politician who recognizes the rights of minorities — including freethinkers — respects our secular Constitution, and is not afraid to talk about it — even at the risk of displeasing the CBCP.

We were given a chance to ask her questions and I got to the point: What does she think about the CBCP’s political meddling, especially on the RH Bill? And what can supporters of secularism do to stop Church politicking?

She answers all this and more in the two-part interview above.

Intelligent conversation, delicious food — it was a wonderful evening. Until I read about what the Comelec did to Ang Ladlad. Oh well. Disgusting, I know. At least we know we have one representative who feels the same way.

Religious homophobes and bigots alike seems to have found their new Church inside the Commission on Election (Comelec), as it recently released one of the notorious decisions this godforsaken country ever witness right before our very eyes: the rejection of Ang Ladlad for party-list electoral accreditation -a legitimate party-list of of thousands of Filipino lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders pushing for gender equality rights- WHY? — because the Bible and Q’uran said so.

The 8-paged decision signed by two Christian and one Muslim Comelec officials of the 2nd Division detailing how being homosexual is an abomination from the standard of the Bible and Q’uran and therefore any group representing this sector is morally disqualified to join the electoral race in 2010 for being bad influence to Filipino youth. To construct a basis for the rejection they unequivocally quoted Romans 1:26-27 from the New Testament King James Version of 1611:

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women
did change the natural use into that which is against nature, And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one
toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”

and from the Q’uran , The Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation of 1938:

“For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women:
ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.” (7:81)
“and we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): Then see what
was the end of those who indulged in sin and crime!” (7:84)
“He said: “O my Lord! Help thou me against people who do mischief!” (29:30)

If you think this can’t be a legal document from a government office, then read the whole Comelec decision from HERE.

Where is the wall of separation of Church and State in all this? You might ask. Despite what’s written on our Constitution that, “the separation of Church and State shall be inviolable”, and “No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion”, what we can learn from this awfully lot man-made tragedy is that GENUINE separation of Church and the State is not automatically given in this country, it is something we should all fight for, and yes, WE WILL FIGHT FOR IT.

P.S.
The author is not gay but recognized that homophobia and other forms of discrimination are borne out of prejudice and infantile ideology.

…continued from Rabbits

The man woke up at dawn.  He was a little lightheaded but his body was rejuvenated by sleep. The campfire was already out but the embers were still smoldering. He added a few twigs and the flame came back to life.

He took out a small kettle and filled it with water from his canteen. He unwrapped a piece of cloth and from it grabbed half a handful of tea leaves and dropped them into the vessel. Using two damp branches, he held the kettle over the fire to brew the tea.

He poured the hot brown liquid into a metal cup and drank. His mind began to clear and he readied himself to continue the journey. He washed his face with water and chewed on some fresh mint leaves.

He checked his horse and saw that it too had a good rest and was already munching on some grasses, seemingly preparing for the journey ahead. He petted its face and it responded with a soft contented neigh. After putting out the fire and packing his things, he mounted his horse and rode along.

As they trotted he noticed, or more likely felt, something different. He knew it was not the light although it was darker than yesterday since he was going deeper into the forest. There was something else, something unsettling that he could not describe. He could feel a certain heaviness in the air, a pervading gloom. But little did he know – or perhaps he just refused to acknowledge – that the air was fine, and that the heaviness was in his heart.

He dug his heels deeper into the sides of his horse and it ran faster. He took his weight off the saddle and transferred it all to the stirrups, leaning forward as he did so, willing the horse to give more speed. As the animal hurried its pace, the man bounced along to the rhythm of the ride, feeling the muscles of his own legs burn from the smooth rocking motion, as if it was he who was making the powerful strides.

Sweat rolled down his neck and he felt good. It was as if he could run away from whatever dark force that was weighing down on him. He closed his eyes and for a few seconds he felt at peace, and he smiled.

Satisfied, he opened his eyes and sat back on the saddle, releasing the pressure from his heels, and the horse slowed down. The heaviness in the air was gone, and his head had cleared. He thought of the reasons for this journey, of the task at hand. And with his renewed sense of purpose, even the path seemed to brighten amid the shadows.

He stopped when he saw a stream and got down to drink from it. As he was swallowing the water from his hand, the edge of his vision caught a quick glimmer and from his instincts he knew that it was a fish swimming upstream to spawn. He went back to his horse to get an old shirt and tore it. He tied the edges of the cloth to a pair of branches to make a net. Then he waded into the stream and waited for another fish. Soon enough there was one and he caught it with his makeshift net. He took out his knife and gutted the fish, cleaning it in the rushing water.

He got his iron pan and washed it in the stream and set it down. He proceeded to fillet the fish and put it inside the pan, then sliced it into thin strips. From his pouch he took a small bottle of well-aged, mellowed soy sauce which he sprinkled on the fish, and a horseradish root which he finely grated with his knife. He fashioned chopsticks from twigs, and using them to pick up a piece of the seasoned fish, he began to eat.

As soon as the first piece entered his mouth and landed on his tongue, the first thing he noticed was how soft and succulent it was, and it melted when he pushed it against his palate, releasing its creamy taste. The fish was as fresh as it could be, and spawning fish always contained lots of fat. Then the horseradish burst with its pungent aroma, rushing into his sinuses. He breathed in and closed his eyes as a few teardrops slipped from their corners. He chewed slowly, savoring all the flavors as they blended in his mouth, then swallowed. He got a bottle of home-made rice wine from one of the many pouches strapped to his horse and took a sip to wash down the fish. Then with his improvised chopsticks he picked up another piece and continued to eat slowly, enjoying the meal with every bite and every sip.

As he finished the fish and the wine (it was a large fish and he needed all the wine to wash it down), he felt full and a little drunk, so he decided to take a short nap. He sat beside the stream and leaned his back against a rock, and soon fell asleep.

To be concluded…

Rabbits Part Three: The Clearing

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Do you know that there are about 18 kinds of Bibles available in the market today? Confronted with this fact, a deceitful Christian will say that all Bibles have similar message on it, so you can just pick anyone of them since they are all the same. Well guess again!

Do you think that the KJV, NIV, NAB, Good News, The Message, etc. etc. have the same message on it? Well judging by the misunderstanding of different Christian sects existing today, we can carefully figure it out that Christians have been interpreting, translating and in most cases, even writing, their holy book differently to suit their congregations’ beliefs and dogmas.

KJV vs. NIV
Well let’s just look at the war between the KJV readers vs. the NIV readers. The KJV (King James Version) and the NIV (New International Version) are the most used Bible in Christianity today. Yet a feud is building up among their loyal devotees. The NIV claim that their translation is based on the Masoratic Text in the latest edition of the Biblia Hebraica, except where the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, and internal evidences led to corrections in the Masoratic Text. The New Testament was based upon the Critical Greek text. Well in comparison with the KJV in which was solely based on the Bishop Bible of 1568, the Tyndale, Matthew, Covendale ,Geneva and the 1516 and 1522 edition of Erasmus’ Greek Text, the NIV is more scholarly superior and up dated.

Most commentators on the KJV side insist that those scholars that help created the NIV were liars or they sometimes say that some translations were conflicting compare to the one they use (which is of course the KJV). Some see it too free a translation, quite interpretive and not textually dependable.

The Difference between KJV and NIV
Here is a small list of the differences:
1. PROV. 28:3 – “A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain….” (NIV) vs. “A poor man that oppresseth the poor” (KJV)
2. MICAH 5:2 – “…whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting”– (KJV) vs. “…whose origin is from old from ancient days” (NIV)
3. MATT. 12:40 – “For as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the whale’s belly” vs. “For as Jonas was in the great fish 3 days and 3 nights” (NIV)
4. MARK 1:1 – “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ” (NIV) vs. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (KJV)
5. 1 JOHN 3:4 – “…for sin is transgression of the law” (KJV) vs. “…sin is lawbreaking or lawlessness” (NIV)
6. John 6:69 – And we believe and are sure that thou art that CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD (KJV) vs. We believe and know that you are the HOLY ONE OF GOD. (NIV)
7. Acts 8:10 – This man is the great power of God (KJV) vs. This man is the divine power known as the Great Power (NIV)
8. GEN. 11:2 – “And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east” (KJV) vs. “…eastward or to the east” (NIV)
9. EX. 14:27 – “The Egyptians were fleeing toward it” (NIV) vs. “the Egyptians fled against it” (KJV)
10. NUM. 11:25 – “…when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease” (KJV) vs. “…and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did so no more” (NIV)
11. 1 SAM. 8:16 – “And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men…” (KJV) vs. “He will take your menservants, and maidservants, and the best of your cattle….” (NIV)
12. MARK 1:2 – “…as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger…” (KJV) vs. “as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold I send my….” (NIV)
13. LUKE 14:5 – “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit….” (KJV) vs. “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into….” (NIV)
14. ACTS 3:21 – “…which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (KJV) vs. “…that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old” (NIV)
15. REV. 8:13 – “and I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven” (KJV) vs. “Then I looked, and heard an eagle crying with a loud voice….” (NIV)

Most NIV critic says that the NIV weakens the divinity of Jesus Christ. It also weakens the concept of Predestination. Yet NIV defenders argue that the KJV has a lot of translation errors, unjustified additions base on the Latin text and not on the Greek text, misplaced verses and omitted words.

Catholic vs. Protestant Scriptures
The most obvious problem is the number of inspired scriptures. The Roman Catholic Church has canonized 75 books while the Protestant/Evangelicals only accepted 65 books. So which is which?

According to Christian fundamentalists, the Apocrypha were not inspired. But Apocrypha defenders says several ancient copies of Greek translations contain some of its books. It is also said that Jesus and his apostles use these books. Jude for example has quoted some passages from the apocrypha Book of Enoch. The term “apocrypha” was coined by St Jerome as biblical books contained in the Septuagint, but not included in the Hebrew Bible.

Now why are the other cannons very important to the Roman Catholics? That is because some of their church doctrines, like the existence of “purgatory” and prayers for the dead can be seen on the Apocryphal books 2 Maccabees and Tobit which the Protestants don’t believe.

Have you heard the Reformation in Europe? It’s the time when an unknown German monk lists his 95 theses to attack Roman Catholic corruption. It was also the time of Bible making in both concern parties!

Before that time, Bible making is just a Roman Catholic business. Well…until John Wycliffe entered the business. Wycliffe died two years after the completion of his Bible in 1382. In 1428, forty-four years after his death, his bones were dug up and burned after being condemned. His ashes were thrown into the River Swift in an attempt by the medieval church to stamp out his “unsavory” memory.

In the late 1400’s a new theology arises. Martin Luther has started to introduce his doctrine of salvation through faith and not through works and predestination. In Geneva, John Calvin (1509-64) has strengthened the concept of predestination which influences Presbyterianism and congregationalism, while Zwingli (1484-1531) denied substantiation. The apocryphal books were later added by the Roman Catholic Church in the Council of Trent in 1543-63 as an act to counter attacked against Protestantism.

The Protestants claim that the apocryphal books were not scripture. These books were not included in the original Jewish Bible.

Yet Martin Luther did not outright reject the books. He includes the apocrypha in the appendix on his German translation of the Bible in 1534 and said they were useful for reading but they don’t have the status of a scripture. Well, he also treats the Book of James in the New Testaments this way. For the Calvinist, they rejected these books because they have nothing to do in their unique theological position. In 1827, the British and Foreign Bible Society decided to refuse financial aid to any society that distributed Bibles which contains the apocryphal books.

So if I read the Roman Catholic Bible; am I reading a holy scripture or am I just reading a counter-reformation drive against the Protestants? How about the 65 version of the Protestants? Is that the real number of scriptures or they just wanted to be different?

It seems these books were left out because of economics and prejudice between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant reformers and has nothing to do with theological reason.

It’s all about biases
A Christian friend once told me that different Bible translation is not really a problem since all Biblical Hermeneutics are the same. Hermeneutics is a cool jargon that simply means Bible interpretation. Now is Bible interpretation the same on every Christian sect?

Bible interpretation is really about doctrinal biases. Remember that all Christian sects declare to own the “truth”. So if you belong to a Christian sect that believes in “Oneness”, then your congregation will interpret the Bible base on what the congregation believes. Sometimes, it will use a certain Bible that will back-up its doctrines. Liberal Christians who don’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ can use Bibles that were written by people who don’t believe the divinity of Jesus. Bibles like Schonfield, Moffat, The Complete Bible an American Translation by Edgar Goodspeed and J. M. Powis Smith, Lamsa’s translation of the Peshita Text, New English Bible & Revised English Bible and New Testament in an Improved Version and Newcome’s New Translation are a good choice.

If you cannot find any Bible that will support your stand on the issue…well you can always write your own Bible. That’s just what the Jehovah’s Witnesses did. They have their own translation of the Scriptures in which they have taken unwarranted liberties with the Greek text called the “New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures.”

The Inspired Version was created by the Mormons. The text was published in 1867 and a “corrected edition” in 1944. If you believe that Joseph Smith was an inspired prophet, then his lack of knowledge of Greek and Hebrew would really not matter.

If you can’t print your own Bible, well you can always interpret the Bible base on your belief and doctrine. Scriptures about prophecies and apostleship is most targeted by different Christian sects.

The Iglesia ni Cristo for instance uses Isaiah 34:16 to prove the divinity of the INC Church base on prophecy. The World Wide Church of God also uses different prophesy in the Bible to give good reason for its belief that the Anglo-American people were the lost tribe of Israel.

Sometimes different Christians insert their belief in the pages of the Bible as foot notes. Finis Drake for example inserted his belief on the “gap-theory” in the pages of the Drake Bible.

Now notice the following examples of comparison from different Bibles:
1. In the New Revised Standard Version (NSRV) Genesis 2:18-18 established that animals were created after the human male. NIV erases the contradiction by using the word “had formed” to replace the NSRV “formed”.
2. The Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible agreed that it was Elhanan who killed Goliath the Gittite. The KJV says that Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother.
3. On MARK 11:26 – (“But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses”). Many modern versions–RS, LB, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV, and the NWT–omit this verse.
4. 1 John 5:7 – The King James Version gives the following translation. “For there are three that bear records in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one”. Other Bibles like the NIV have a different reading, “For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood: and the three are in agreement”.
5. 1 COR. 5:5 (“…that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”). By omitting the word “Jesus,” many versions–JB, NIV, NEB, NAB, TEV, and NWT–imply Jesus is not Lord.
6. 1 COR. 10:28 (“…for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof”). Every version omits this verse except the King James.
7. MATT. 12:47 does not exist in the RS, LB, or JB.
8. In regard to MATT. 27:35 (“And they crucified him, and parted his garments casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots”), only the KJ and ML have the underlined phrase.
9. MARK 7:16 is not in the RS, LB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, TEV, or NWT.
10. MARK 9:44, 46 is not in the RS, LB, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NAB, NEB, TEV, or the NWT.
11. In MARK 10:7, “And cleave to his wife,” is not in the JB, NAB, NWT, or the NAS.
12. MARK 15:28 is omitted in the RS, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV, and the NWT.
13. LUKE 17:36 is not in the RS, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NAB, NEB, TEV, or the NWT.
14. LUKE 22:19b-20 is not in the NEB. LUKE 22:43-44 is not in the RSV.
15. LUKE 23:17 does not exist in the RS, LB, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV, or the NWT.
16. LUKE 23:38 is absent from every version except the KJ and LV.
17. LUKE 24:12 and 24:40 are deleted from the RS and NEB.
18. LUKE 24:36 isn’t in the RS, LB, NEB, or the NAS.
19. JOHN 5:3b-4 is omitted from the RS, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, TEV and NWT.
20. ACTS 8:37 is not to be found in the RS, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, TEV or the NWT.
21. ACTS 15:34 is not in the KJ, RS, LB, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV, or the NWT.
22. ACTS 24:6c-8a is absent from the RS, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV, and NWT.
23. ACTS 28:29 is omitted in the RS, LB, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV and the NWT.
24. ROM. 16:24 is not in the RS, LB, JB, NIV, AS, BBE, NEB, NAB, TEV, or the NWT.
25. And finally, the phrase, “and so we are,” in JOHN 3:1 is in every version except the King James.

According to Mr. Dennis McKinsey, different Bible versions occur because:
First, variations in doctrine and theology emerge because translators often can not agree on how a verse should be translated.
Second, theological deviations sometimes emerge because they can not agree on whether or not particular words, phrases, or sentences should even be in the “authentic” Bible. And third, variations in the translation of separate verses have generated textual disagreements as to facts. I may also ad that one cause is the insertion of a particular doctrine to justify it or to look like it came from the Holy Scripture.

So returning to the Christian challenge that a freethinker must read the Bible, I will return the favor. What Bible do you want me to read?

“The Christian Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same but the medical practice changes. For 1,800 years these changes were slight–scarcely noticeable…. The dull and ignorant physician day and night, and all the days and all the nights, drenched his patient with vast and hideous doses of the most repulsive drugs to be found in the store’s steak…. He kept him religion sick for eighteen centuries, and allowed him not a well day during all that time.” – Mark Twain and the Three R’s, Ed. by Maxwell Geismar, p. 107

When paleontologists discovered the existence of dinosaur fossils, Christians retorted by saying that these bones were placed by Satan to deceive us to believe that Genesis didn’t happened…Well so far so good. When people didn’t buy this cockeyed explanation, some Christians made stories that say God created the dinosaurs together with human being, and what best reference they can show is what was written in their “Holy Bible”.

According to these Christians, the Book of Job is the evidence that dinosaurs can be found in the Bible.

Let us see.

Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him . Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares. (Job 40:15-24 KJV)

Isn’t that great or what… Lo and behold, Job is talking about a sauropod, a Brachiosaurus.

Yeah right…

Most Christians agree that the Behemoth in the Book of Job is a dinosaur. Many Young Earth Creationists propose that the Behemoth is a sauropod. But why are these guys’ compares the Behemoth to a dinosaur? It can mean anything?

The Christians claim Job 40:15-24 is definitely talking about a dinosaur.
1. he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly – So the Behemoth eats grass! Yep and a dinosaur eats grass.

But so does a hippo and an elephant. Dinosaurs don’t eat grass like an ox. They were wholly incapable of chewing their food at all. Their jaws can only move up and down like the jaws of a crocodile, not in a circular pattern like the jaws of a cow. They ate vegetation by grasping the food with the teeth, and pulled away with the head, thereby “raking” the leaves into the mouth. In order to “chew” the food they swallowed, they had to swallow stones (called “gastroliths”) that traveled through the necks and into the gizzard area. There, the stones help to grind their food by mashing plant matter into a digestible pulp with the help of special muscles found inside of the gizzards. Oh and did I forgot to tell you that sauropods were tree-browsers.

2. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.

Well…since a behemoth “has a tail that is exactly like a cedar tree” it must be a dinosaur. Good grief! Guys, can you read this verse again. It doesn’t say that a behemoth’s tail is like a cedar tree, it says that its tail move like a cedar. That means that it does not necessarily pointing towards the size of the tail, it only speaking about the motion pattern. It’s just saying that the behemoth’s tail moved like the branches of a cedar tree in the wind.

In the New International Version (NIV), the verses in question are translated as the following:
“What strength he has in his loins; what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar, the sinews of his thighs are close-knit…”
This version could indicate that the animal moved parts of the loin-region, such as the phallus, around aggressively, whether in heat or not. Following the symbolism of strong, well-functioning phalli being a metaphor for masculine courage, the verses continue to demonstrate the behavior and dependence on God of the creature, indicating the humility of a creature that would appear to have no need for humility.

3. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him .
That means anyone, approaching the creature, must arm himself with raw firepower; any weapon needed to kill this vicious monstrosity, including a sword. We are not talking about a creature dated back between 70 and 65 million years ago. We’re talking about some modern African animal, like a hippopotamus, a highly dangerous animal that has been said to kill humans more than any other dangerous animal in Africa.

4. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.

The rest of the passage refers to Behemoth being a large amphibious mammal. Sauropods, on the other hand would not enjoy being stuck, bogged down, and up to their armpits in mud, mire, and water all the time and, in other cases, be drowned in their own tissue while standing in deep water.

The writer of Job is not talking about dinosaurs here. The New Living Translation says that it’s a hippopotamus. In the original Hebrew, the word behemoth is of Egyptian origin. According to the Easton Bible Dictionary, “Some have supposed this to be an Egyptian word meaning a “water-ox.” The Revised Version has here in the margin “hippopotamus,” which is probably the correct rendering of the word. The hippopotamus is truly a wild animal that “eateth grass like an ox,” can never be tamed, and makes his home in the swamps, lakes, and rivers of Africa. They were once common in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, but were not seen anymore in that area due to them being hunted down for their ivory teeth, meat, and hide by humans.

Another dinosaur “wannabee” in the Bible is the Leviathan.

The word “Leviathan” appears six times in the Bible:
1. Isaiah 27:1: “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
2. Psalms 74:14: “Thou didst crush the heads of the Leviathan, thou didst give him for food to the creatures of the desert.” NIV
3. Psalms 104:25,26: “O Lord, how manifold thy works, in wisdom you have created them all. So is this great and wide sea… there go the ships and the Leviathan which you have created to play therein” (AV);
4. Book of Job 3:8 “May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan “; (NIV )
5. Book of Job 40: 24-32, 41:1-24: “Can you draw out a Leviathan with a hook or press down its tongue with a cord? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a bridle ring? Will he make many supplications to thee? Will he speak soft words to thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? To take him for thy servant forever? Will thou play with him as with a bird? Or wilt thou bind him for thy girls? Will the tradesmen heap up payment for him?… Lay thy hand upon him, thou will no more think of fighting. Behold the hope of him is in vain, shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?…Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is near to the another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. By his [sneezing] a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of morning. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth….His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone….He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble….He maketh the deep to boil like a pot….he is a king over all the children of pride.”

According to Duane Gish, the Leviathan is a dinosaur, some dort of a Parasaurolophus or Corythosaurus, or a plesiosaur such as Koronosaurus. Yet have he forgotten that the Leviathan appears also in Ugaritic texts, where it is described as a twisting serpent. In Canaanite mythology and literature, it is a monster called Lotan, ‘the fleeing serpent, the coiling serpent with the seven heads’. It was eventually killed by Baal. The Leviathan is also the Ugaritic god of evil.

In Psalms 74:14 it also says that the Leviathan has many heads (Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.)

Also, let us not forget the following descriptions:
A.) Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
B.) Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
C.) His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth

Gosh! These descriptions sounds like more of one of those monsters from a Japanese 1960’s monster show…like those Godzilla movies. Dinosaurs don’t have such abilities. The gentle Parasaurolophus or Corythosaurus doesn’t shoot fire from their mouth. Also, there were no sailing ships on the time when sea reptiles known as pliosaurs ruled the seas.

Let me point out…the Bible is neither modern nor scientific. It was written in a poetical, ancient and mythological manner. So I hope Christian fundies should use their brain often and should try to distinguish facts from fables.

Slavery is an institution based on a relationship of dominance and submission, whereby one person owns another and can exact from that person labor or other services. The Holy Bible refers to slaves as a personal property that could be purchased & beaten. In one of Jesus’ parables, he approved beating servants severely, instead of preaching of its abolition (The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it. “But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given.” - Luke 12:47-48 NLT).

Christian supporters of slavery argued that the New Testament clearly did not forbid slavery, and did not deem it a sin and today, modern Christian apologetics try to soften it by claiming that a more accurate translation would be as a servant or hired workers rather then slaves despite that the Bible states that one should not regret the gift, for slaves were only half as expensive as hired workers (It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. – Deuteronomy 15:18 King James Version)

Clearly, according to the Bible, the spirit of the Lord has little to do with liberty. The well-known reverend, Alexander Campbell contended: “there is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral.” Only during the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century the spread of the ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau and others, and the increase of democratic sentiment led to a growing attack on the slave trade and slavery in general.

Isn’t it odd to think that faulty humans at least tried to abolish slavery compare to an all-knowing, all-good God?

Just read the following verses:

Deuteronomy 15:17, English Standard Version

Lev. 25:44-46, English Standard Version

Exodus 21:20-21

Exodus 21:2-6

Deut. 15:12

Deut. 28:68

Eph. 6:5-7

1 Tim. 6:1

Col. 3:22

Titus 2:9

1 Peter 2:18,21, NIRV

And then read these following quotations from some so-called men of God and other famous people:

“[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God…it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation…it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts.” Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. 1,2

“There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral.” Rev. Alexander Campbell

“The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.” Rev. R. Furman, D.D., Baptist, of South Carolina

“The hope of civilization itself hangs on the defeat of Negro suffrage.” A statement by a prominent 19th-century southern Presbyterian pastor, cited by Rev. Jack Rogers, moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

“The doom of Ham has been branded on the form and features of his African descendants. The hand of fate has united his color and destiny. Man cannot separate what God hath joined.” – United States Senator James Henry Hammond.

The quotation by Jefferson Davis, listed above, reflected the beliefs of many Americans in the 19th century. Slavery was seen as having been “sanctioned in the Bible.” They argued that biblical passages recognized, controlled, and regulated the practice.

The Bible permitted owners to beat their slaves severely, even to the
point of killing them. However, as long as the slave lingered longer than 24 hours before dying of the abuse, the owner was not regarded as having committed a crime, because — after all — the slave was his property.

You won’t find any law in the Ten Commandments that prohibits slavery. There are no prophets of God that condemned it. The twelve Apostles are silent about its abolition.

Jesus could have condemned the practice. He might have done so. But there is no record of him having said anything negative about the institution.

Paul had every opportunity to write in one of his Epistles that human
slavery — the owning of one person as a piece of property by another – is profoundly evil. His letter to Philemon would have been an ideal opportunity to vilify slavery, but he wrote not one word of criticism.

Eventually, the abolitionists gained sufficient power to eradicate slavery in most areas of the world by the end of the 19th century. Slavery was eventually recognized as an extreme evil. But this paradigm shift in understanding came at a cost. Christians wondered why the Bible was so supportive of such an immoral practice. They questioned whether the Bible was entirely reliable. Perhaps there were other practices that it accepted as normal which were profoundly evil — like genocide, torturing prisoners, raping female prisoners of war, executing religious minorities, burning some hookers alive, etc. The innocent faith that Christians had in “the Good Book” was lost — never to be fully regained.

Thanks for secular laws we have today, we now abolished slavery. On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 4 states:
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

I just wonder, why such law can’t be found in a book said to be inspired by a just God.

Well I finally got around to finalizing the entries to our very extended Essay Writing Contest, and the judges sure have their work cut out for them. We have 66 entries, listed in alphabetical order below, and while they’re an absolute delight to read through, the sheer volume of them is enough to make me wish I had made this a haiku writing contest.

But just who are these poor judges who have to read through each of them again and vote, you ask? Why, you of course!

That’s right folks, elections have come early and you get to help choose the winner of our first Essay Writing Contest. Here are the mechanics:

• Each of the articles below will display a “Vote” link at the bottom of the page. Click this link to cast a vote for the post.
• Registered users can vote for up to 15 articles, but must vote only once for each. Be honest; His Noodliness is watching.
• You have one week to vote, after which the top articles will be shortlisted for our first FF magazine publication.
• Editors will then vote for the winning article from the shortlist.

You are free to vote any way you feel, but we recommend the following criteria:

• Subject and Relevance (35 points) – subject matter must be of interest to readers, and must be relevant to freethought (optional: in the Philippine setting)
• Organization and Accuracy (25) – work must follow a central idea, and all facts stated must be accurate. i.e. avoid ranting, and cite sources when possible.
• Style and Soundness of reasoning (25) – work must be written in a manner that makes readers want to read on, and hopefully agree with your sentiment
• Overall coolness (15) – bonus points for blowing our minds.

Now get voting. There are no lesser evils here.

1. A Scientific Bible? by pinoyatheist
2. A Valuable Lesson by Ryan Tani
3. According to Bacon by pinoyatheist
4. An atheist learns from a dog by pinoyatheist
5. Angels and Demons by igme
6. Ashes to Ashes…dust to dust. by pinoyatheist
7. Atheistic Spirituality by pinoyatheist
8. Belief, non-belief, and homosexuality by f241vc15
9. Book Review : The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by wes
10. Brainwashing with consent by pinoyatheist
11. Can you justify by mere faith? by pinoyatheist
12. Children’s Choice by igme
13. Chiz’s “pasang awa” project gets failing grade by Ryan Tani
14. Congressmen Contra-RH Bill by Geri Villas
15. Cory’s Legacy by wes
16. Couple’s Choice by igme
17. Creating “Creations” by pinoyatheist
18. Devastated by Ondoy? Congrats: You just passed Calculus! by Ryan Tani
19. Diet for Christians: Less Spam, More Meat by Ryan Tani
20. Does God Exist? Video Campaign — Refuted by Geri Villas
21. Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Wella
22. Faithful Dad, Faithless Dad by Ryan Tani
23. Falling In Love: The Physics Of Attraction by f241vc15
24. Fear of Meeting ff Folks by AnnThrop
25. Forsaken by Sathepine
26. Free Thinkers Political Watch Out by justinaquino
27. Freethinkers in the Philippines? by pinoyatheist
28. Freethought Poetry: Mothers by f241vc15
29. Ghosts by Tania Arpa
30. How to Oppose the RH Bill by Geri Villas
31. I Just Want Him Safe by Sathepine
32. I Killed My Guardian Angel – Is That OK? by yodz
33. Is Writing Rationally Irrational? by wes
34. Jesus and the Fig Tree by pinoyatheist
35. Judas, the Traitor? by igme
36. Just Like Rabbits by pinoyatheist
37. L2MF Post #02: On Courage, Industry, and Honesty by InfoLibertarian
38. L2MF Post #03: On Church Offerings and Charitable Donations by InfoLibertarian
39. Letters to My Father, Post #01 by InfoLibertarian
40. Liars and Friars by Ryan Tani
41. Of things concerning rock, paper, scissors, and other weapons by f241vc15
42. On Religion and Tolerance by pinoyatheist
43. On the Church’s NFP-only stance: The case of Texas by Twin-Skies
44. Philippine Historians’ Dilemma: What is Philippine Culture? by justinaquino
45. Review: Spring Awakening by wes
46. Sacrifice by igme
47. Sina B1 at B2: A conversation on contraception by Ryan Tani
48. Societal Health: the More Heathenly, the More Heavenly by Ryan Tani
49. Sorry guys, I’m reconverting… by f241vc15
50. Spare the Rod and SAVE the Child by Ryan Tani
51. Spiritual Enlightenment by Gerard Baula
52. The Birds and the Bees and the Hymens and the Mens by Ryan Tani
53. The Boss by innerminds
54. The Flaws of Science (?) by Harmless
55. The Problem with Superstitions. by pinoyatheist
56. The Theocracy Of Ed Panlilio by Geri Villas
57. Time and Life by innerminds
58. Towards healthier skepticism: Correlation does not imply causation by f241vc15
59. Viral Religion by Archer
60. We need more Catholics like this… by Twin-Skies
61. What The Faith — The Baldy, the Babes, and the Bears by Ryan Tani
62. When Death Hangs Above Your Head by pinoyatheist
63. Why People Worship Money by innerminds
64. Why volunteer? by Tania Arpa
65. Will to be Whole by Sathepine
66. Would You Like A Secular Philippines? by Benj

Note: A few of them might not be essays, but have been included as entries nontheless. If you have submissions that are not listed, please leave a comment and we will update the list.

Once upon a time a man road a horse into the forest. The canopy of treetops was thin at first and the path was bright, but slowly it darkened even as the sun was just rising.

The man stopped when he saw a small but clean pond of water, alighted from his horse and approached it. The water was so clear it sparkled. He got down to his knees, scooped with his hand and drank, savoring the purest liquid, invigorating because it was living water, never been contained in any vessel made by man. But then he filled his canteen and pulled his horse towards the pond. The animal drank while the man splashed water to his face and neck.

Both man and beast now refreshed and contented, they continued deeper into the forest, carefully treading in the dim light. The sun was now at its zenith, and even the forest could not totally block its light. The forest was beautiful, with trees all around, their tops racing towards the sky. There were no shrubs or small trees because in order to thrive, plants need sunlight. Hence, although the sky was totally blanketed, the path was wide since the big trees stood several feet from each other.

They rode a little faster this time, taking advantage of the noontime sun because when it began to set it would be too dark to travel. They stopped for a quick lunch of dried meat, grapes, three types of cheese, rye bread, and home-made wine for the man, and fresh green grasses for the horse. They continued on their journey, observing the surroundings change into deeper, mellower colors with the dimming of the light.

Alas, they had to stop while it was still bright enough to search for firewood. After gathering several armfuls of dry twigs and branches, the man carefully but expertly arranged them to make a fire. He took out his matches and lit up a few thin twigs as primer, carefully nursing the small flame, adding just the right amount of wood, because too little would waste the heat while too much would smother the flame. Slowly the flame grew into a steady fire, and with the way he arranged the firewood, the fire would last for a few hours untended, and he had enough extra wood to last the whole night.

He was not yet hungry for dinner because his muscles were still tensed from the journey, and that was fine because he needed some time to hunt for fresh meat. He saw a rabbit several yards to his left, and in a swift but smooth arc he took his bow, fixed an arrow on the string and pulled while aiming at the rabbit, and with a tiny flick of a few fingers the arrow left the bow in a quick flight straight to the rabbit’s heart. It died almost instantly. He walked over to retrieve his kill, brought out his knife and proceeded to clean and prepare it for cooking.

Placing the rabbit meat in an iron pan, he rubbed it with salt and pepper which he always carried inside a pouch along with herbs, spices, and various seasonings.  Next he took a pinch of a brown-red course powder and sprinkled it on the meat. Then he covered the pan and put it in the fire, the flames enveloping it and sealing it shut, keeping all the flavors locked in.

Inside the pan the rabbit meat began to roast, the seasonings working their way into the flesh and its juices, blending the flavors into a splendid feast. The man took out his bottle of home-made wine and took a swig, rolling the wine inside his mouth for a few seconds to savor it before swallowing. Then he held two small twigs like chopsticks to uncover the pan and poured some wine into the dish. Instantly it sizzled, filling the cold night air with a heavenly smell, and he covered it again.

After few more a minutes his meal was ready. Using a pair of firewood, he carefully took the pan from the fire and laid it on a flat rock. Vapor rose as he lifted the lid, intoxicating him with the anticipation of gastronomic delight. Using his knife he took a piece of meat and brought it to his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue he knew that he was having good meat, and as he chewed, the different flavors began to emerge, allowing him to savor them one by one. He slowly swallowed the meat and washed it down with wine, and all the flavors blended and exploded in his mouth. He repeated the whole process several times until the pan was clean and the wine bottle was half-empty. He lit a hand-rolled cigar as he continued to drink the rest of the wine, leaning back against a rock and watching the flames, and he started to recall a story he heard when he was a kid.

Long ago, the great Frith made the world. He made all the stars, and the world lived among the stars. Frith made all the animals and birds, and at first made them all the same. Now among the animals was El-Ahrairah, the prince of rabbits. He had many friends, and they all ate grass together.

But after a time, the rabbits wandered everywhere, multiplying and eating as they went. Then Frith said to El-Ahrairah, “Prince Rabbit, if you cannot control your people, I shall find ways to control them.” But El-Ahrairah would not listen and said to Frith, “My people are the strongest in the world.” This angered Frith, and he determined to get the better of El-Ahrairah. He gave a present to every animal and bird, making each one different from the rest. When the fox came, and others, like the dog, and cat, hawk, and weasel, to each of them, Frith gave a fierce desire to hunt and slave the children of El-Ahrairah.

Then El-ahrairah knew that Frith was too clever for him and he was frightened. He had never before seen the black rabbit of death. He thought that the fox and the weasel were coming with Frith and he turned to the face of the hill and began to dig. He dug a hole, but he had dug only a little of it when Frith came over the hill alone. And he saw El-ahrairah’s bottom sticking out of the hole and the sand flying out in showers as the digging went on. He called out, “My friend, have you seen El-ahrairah, for I wish to give him a gift?” “No”, answered El-ahrairah, without coming out, “I have not seen him.” So Frith said, “Come out of that hole and I will bless you instead.” “No, I cannot,” said El-ahrairah, “I am busy. The fox and the weasel are coming. If you want to bless me you can bless my bottom.”

“Very well, be it so.” Frith blessed El-ahrairah’s tail and it grew shining white and flashed like a star, and his back legs grew long and powerful, and he tore across the hill faster than any creature in the world.

Then Frith said, “All the world will be your enemy, Prince With A Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you: digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.”

And as the man finished his wine and cigar, he added more wood to the fire and unrolled a mat beside it and lay himself down. He kept thinking about the story, wondering about his people and if they will be destroyed by their own arrogance. And with that thought he drifted into fitful sleep, until the spirit of the wine finally took off the hard edges of physical and mental exertion and brought him into sweet dreamless slumber.

To be continued…

Rabbits Part Two: Deeper Into The Forest

innerminds.wordpress.com

Every aspect of organized religion are male dominated. Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Brahman, Khristna, the priests, all are men. The religions themselves practice overt discrimination against women within their own institutions. They are run by men for men.

The major male dominated monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam have had a profound effect on women’s lives up to and including the present day. Woman was supposedly created as an afterthought from Adam’s rib. Even their holy books degrade women in the rank of plain accessories for men, a kind of property and worst, cattle and livestock. Her role established in the scriptures are nothing more but a temptress, a whore, a foot-washer and a domestic servant. She is suppose to be unclean during menstruation and untouchable until ritual cleansing after childbirth. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton once quoted, “The Bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world that she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgment seat of Heaven, tried, condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period of suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role of a dependent on man’s bounty for all her material wants, and for all the information she might desire.”

Here are some samples from the Christian Bible:

1. “And a man will choose…any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman…Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die” Ecclesiasticus, 25:18, 19 & 33.

2. Genesis 3:16 God punishes Eve, and all women after her, with the pains of childbirth and subjection to men.

3. Genesis 7:2 “The male and his female …” Notice that in the Bible female animals are the property of male animals, as women are the property of men.

{Gen. 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.}

4. Exodus 20:17 “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, … nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.” In the Bible, women are the property of men; they are his possessions — like an ox or an ass.

5. Genesis 19:8 (also see: 2 Pet.2:7-8) Lot refuses to give up his angels to the perverted mob, offering his two “virgin daughters” instead. He tells the bunch of sex-starved men to “do unto them [his daughters] as is good in your eyes.” This is the same man that is called “just” and “righteous”

6. Exodus 21:7 God explains how to go about selling your daughter — and what to do if she fails to please her new master.

7. Exodus 34:16 “Their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.” God always blames the women; it is they who “go a whoring” and then “make” the men “go a whoring.”

8. Leviticus 12:1-5 Women are dirty and sinful after childbirth, so God prescribes rituals for their purification. If a boy is born, the mother is unclean for 7 days and must be purified for 33 days; but if a girl is born, the mother is unclean for 14 days and be purified for 66 days. This is because, in the eyes of God, girls are twice as dirty as boys.

9. Leviticus 31:1-54 Under God’s direction, Moses’ army defeats the Midianites. They kill all the adult males, but take the women and children captive. When Moses learns that they left some live, he angrily says: “Have you saved all the women alive? Kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.” So they went back and did as Moses (and presumably God) instructed, killing everyone except for the virgins. In this way they got 32,000 virgins — Wow! (Even God gets some of the booty — including the virgins.)

10. Deuteronomy 5:21 Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife or ass — or any thing that belongs to your neighbor. You see, in the eyes of God, women are the possessions of men.

11. Deuteronomy 25:11-12 If two men fight and the wife of one grabs the “secrets” of the other, “then thou shalt cut off her hand” and “thine eye shall not pity her.”

12. Judges 9:53-54 After being hit in the head with a millstone thrown by a woman, a soldier orders his armor bearer to kill him so that no one would say that a woman had killed him.

13. Isaiah 3:12 Isaiah shows his contempt for women by saying that things have gotten so bad for his people that “women rule over them.”

14. Zechariah 5:7-8 Evil is personified as a woman.

15. Luke 2:23 Males are holy to God, not females.
(As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

16. Romans 1:27 Paul explains that “the natural use” of women is to act as sexual objects for the pleasure of men.
(And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.)

17. 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says “the head of the woman is the man,” meaning that the women are to be subordinate to men.

18. 1 Corinthians11:7-9 Men are made in “the image and glory of God,” but not women; they are “the glory” of men. Paul concludes that women are made from and for men.

19. 1 Corinthians14:34-35 Women are commanded by Paul to be silent in church and to be obedient to men. He further says that “if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in church.”

20. 1Timothy 2:11-12 Paul forbids women to teach or “to usurp authority over” men. Rather they are to “learn [from men] in silence with all subjection [to men].”

21. 1Peter 3:1 Peter orders all wives to be “in subjection” to their husbands.

Even Islam has its share of bigotry to women.

1. Have sex with your women whenever and as often as you like.
2:223 Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate) so go to your tilth as ye will, and send (good deeds) before you for your souls, and fear Allah, and know that ye will (one day) meet Him. Give glad tidings to believers, (O Muhammad).

2. A woman is worth one-half a man.
2:282 O ye who believe! When ye contract a debt for a fixed term, record it in writing. Let a scribe record it in writing between you (in terms of) equity. No scribe should refuse to write as Allah hath taught him, so let him write, and let him who incurreth the debt dictate, and let him observe his duty to Allah his Lord, and diminish naught thereof. But if he who oweth the debt is of low understanding, or weak, or unable himself to dictate, then let the guardian of his interests dictate in (terms of) equity. And call two witness from among your men, two witnesses. And if two men be not at hand, then a man and two women, of such as ye approve as witnesses, so that if one erreth (though forgetfulness) the other will remember. And the witnesses must not refuse when they are summoned. Be no averse to writing down (the contract) whether it be small or great, with (record of) the term thereof. That is more equitable in the sight of Allah and more sure for testimony, and the best way of avoiding doubt between you; save only in the case when it is actual merchandise which ye transfer among yourselves from hand to hand. In that case it is no sin for you if ye write it not. And have witnesses when ye sell to one another, and let no harm be done to scribe or witness. If ye do (harm to them) lo! it is a sin in you. Observe your duty to Allah. Allah is teaching you. And Allah is knower of all things.

3. Lot offers his daughters to a mob of angel rapers.
15:71 He said: Here are my daughters, if ye must be doing (so).

4. Believing women must lower their gaze and be modest, cover themselves with veils, and not reveal themselves except to their husbands, relatives, children, and slaves.
24:31 And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands’ fathers, or their sons or their husbands’ sons, or their brothers or their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants who lack vigour, or children who know naught of women’s nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that ye may succeed.

5. 38:52 Female companions await those who enter the Gardens of Eden on the Day of Reckoning.

6. 56: 36-37 Allah made virgins to be lovers and friends to those on his right hand.

Here are other samples from the Book of Mormon:
1. 2 Nephi 13:12 When women are allowed to rule, everything goes to hell in a hand basket.
2. Jacob 2:28 God delights in the chastity of women.

How about the early church fathers and known Christian personalities?

“Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil’s gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die.”
- St. Tertullian (about 155 to 225 CE)

“What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman……I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children.”
- St. Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430 CE)

“As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence.”
- St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 to 1274 CE)

“If they [women] become tired or even die that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth, that’s why they are there.”
- Martin Luther (1483 to 1546)

“In the beginning God made man male and female. He made Adam first, and then made Eve from Adam’s rib. This order of creation subordinates wives to their husbands in marriage, and women to men in the church. As an act of submission to their Creator women are commanded to submit to their husbands and to male leadership in the church. Women are not allowed to teach or have authority over men in any formal capacity in the church.”
- Reformation Fellowship of the East Valley, Mesa, AZ (circa 1995)

“Most of these feminists are radical, frustrated lesbians, many of them, and man-haters, and failures in their relationships with men, and who have declared war on the male gender. The Biblical condemnation of feminism has to do with its radical philosophy and goals. That’s the bottom line.”
- Jerry Falwell

History is quite cruel. Before these male dominated religions emerge, our ancestors were worshiping women.

The Cro-Magnon people, the first recognizable humans, were worshipping female deities as far as 35,000 BCE. Among the first human images discovered are the “Venus figures,” nude female figures having exaggerated sexual parts that date back to the Cro-Magnons of the Upper Paleolithic period between 35,000 and 10,000 BCE. Cave paintings women are depicted giving birth. “A naked Goddess appears to have been the patroness of the hunt to mammoth hunters in the Pyrenees and was also protectress of the hearth and lady of the wild things.”

Other female figurines were discovered dating back to the proto-Neolithic period of ca, 9000 – 7000 BCE, the Middle Neolithic period of ca. 6000 – 5000 BCE, and the Higher Neolithic period of ca. 4500 – 3500 BCE. Some of these figurines were decorated as if they had been objects of worship. In black Africa were discovered cave images of the Horned Goddess (later Isis, ca. 7000 – 6000 BCE). The Black Goddess images appeared to represent a bisexual, self-fertilizing woman.

Women were associated with fertility and reproduction so it was given to them the title of the “Great Mother”, the great symbol of the earth’s fertility, the creator of everything. The female life-giving principle was considered divine and a great mystery.

I say that modern organized churches are nothing more but an extension of bigotry and sexism. Women deserve more that what these religions try to portray them. Women are not just a play thing, nor a live stock for man to own. These books are sick to place women in such disgusting roles.

DAMN THOSE CHAUVINIST PIGS!!!!!