Hey All

[themonkeyman]

Hey Folks,

 

Its been a good number of years since I have been on this I peg it at least 7 I hope everyone is doing well.  I went on a long journey with the help of the people on this forum and learned a lot about world religions.  Unfortunately I know that much now that I couldn't even believe in the God of the Bible even if I wanted to its just so archaic and unbelievable some of the things that happened occured and falisified.

 

I believe Bart Ehrman helped me some of the way as his writings showed me to look at things from a Critical Eye but I think the most important writers were Julian the Apostate / Celsus and Prophyry if you read those works - e.g. The accounts of people 200 - 300 AD they are pretty close to the truth in that they had the Library of Alexandria and the Library of Rome to refer to their notes and the works they ascribe that Christianity back then was a load of crap.

 

Indeed Julian was able to question various believers who all said different things and disected various key facts bit by bit.  All 3 universally agree Christianity in the early day was no different from other religons and indeed several sects of Christianity were Multithesitic which isnt recorded anywhere in the bible.

 

We also know that of that time there were a great number of scolars and yet so little work critical of christianity survives yet we find loads of work in support.  The reason I posit this to be is because people who believed in Christianity didnt have libraries and probably wernt of nobility so they stored writings in jars in caves or burried it in the ground.  Smart and Inteligent people stored there works in the Great Libraries such as the one at Alexandria for the world to read.  Unfortunately several raids on the city and the library and all its works were destroyed.

 

The Church also made a good attempt through the years to scorch the earth of any remaining dissenters remember in the middle ages the church was very dominant,  One does wonder how we went from having Brothels for example in Rome with Gay and Lesbians having free reign indeed even this was common practice in Sodom and Gommorah and yet for the last 700 years that was completely surpressed.  Its sad that Ancient Rome and Greece had better democracy than we do now.

 

In addition to this if you pick up the Gnostic Gospels for example they depict Jesus walking about and talking saying magical things and yet not one of these things ever made it into the Cannon.  Why not how did they verify that Jesus did not say these things none of the people compiling the bible would have been eye witnesses.  And even then it was very unlikely they mingled with the poor.

 

I guess when you read how the religions form and why they believe what they do you realise that these people just wanted a belief and stuck to the one that gave them food / water and the promise of hope.

 

One thing I find absolutely hilarious though is that you even have stories such as those of Simon Mangus who actually is recorded as flying through the Air and having a fight with the Apostle Paul.  Now how the fuck can Simon Mangus fly and why was it recorded so directly as if this wasn't a shock to anyone.  Indeed there were people in mass graves who rose from the dead when Jesus died and walked towards the city - I cannot believe not a single Guard or Writer never documented this in historical records and if they did why didn't they sit down and chat to the 'Dead' and why did the 'Dead' arise anyway it makes absolutely no sense.

 

Whats absolutely absurd is that we read that the Ladies went to the Tomb where Jesus laid and were confronted by an Angel who told them not to say anything err....  So how do we have this story then?

 

If you actually put yourself in the Time of Old Rome where people prayed to God for water this Jesus dude probably looked legit.   What I find amazing though is that the Pharasies and teachers of religious law never once believed Jesus to be more than a fraud.  Now we have Churches running about these days preaching the Gospel but if they met a person claiming to be Jesus would they believe it?  Heck there are several people around the world all thinking they were Jesus I don't see the world worshiping them.

 

I would have thought Jesus would have been more obvious - Though I have no doubt jesus believes he was the son of god he was rasied in a relgious group along side John the Bapitst that believed God would come in ther lifetimes.  I also guess the reason was able to perform Magic is that he learned it during his flight to egypt.

 

I for the record am Saying I believe a guy named Jesus lived and probably had some Bipolar with Grandeur but I do not believe he was the Son of God because if he was the Bible would have set out a hell of a better stall than the mashed together heap of dog shite it currently is.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

Are you still in Norn Ireland, mate?

[Lerk]

On 5/19/2021 at 6:31 PM, themonkeyman said:

Unfortunately I know that much now that I couldn't even believe in the God of the Bible even if I wanted to its just so archaic and unbelievable some of the things that happened occured and falisified.

 

I've said a few times (online, anyway) that I don't think it's impossible that there are such things as gods, but I'm absolutely sure that the one(s) the Bible talks about are simply the product of speculation about what I god would be like if there were such things as gods. Too many holes and inconsistencies in the descriptions for it to be anything other than a whole lot of different people's imaginations.

 

And although I don't know much about other religions, I suspect they're all speculation, too. Nobody who ever lived was talked to by a being that wasn't human.

[LogicalFallacy]

Hi @themonkeyman Nice meeting you, and I guess welcome back.

 

Once studied with an open mind, the Bible is so clearly wrong and contradictory it makes it impossible to believe unless you are wearing rose tinted glasses.

[☆ DarkBishop ☆]

Welcome back @themonkeyman!

 

Sounds like you've achieved a full deconversion. That is great. That's what studying will do for ya. I'm going to have to look up those books you mentioned. 

 

On 5/19/2021 at 7:31 PM, themonkeyman said:

Julian the Apostate / Celsus and Prophyry

 

It would be pretty cool to read works from Christian critics of the time. 

 

That's where I am now. I've read books by Ehrmann, Hitchens, published scientific articles explaining the reasons why some myths evolved into what we see today in the Bible, and now it is impossible for me to believe as well. 

 

Coming from someone who at one point in time felt like he was walking on eggshells to keep the Lord happy. Being fully deconverted gives such peace of mind. No more tip toeing around sin. Nope. Now I can enjoy the fruits of my sin LMAO!

 

Anyway. Glad your back and I look forward to hearing more from ya. We are about due for another apologist to show up with a new interpretation of scripture any time now. You might find it amusing to discuss religion with them in the Lions den.