The Bible Tells Me So
The Bible Tells Me So
by Andrew Rutajit
I can remember how one of the first songs that I learned in Sunday school taught me to believe that Christianity is true simply because “the Bible tells me so.” We would stand in a circle and sing that song; ironically, my habit of Christian circular reasoning began in that circle, and it was a difficult habit to break. It is however a good example of circular reasoning: Jesus loves me because the bible tells me so, the bible was written (inspired) by God, God and Jesus are the same entity…So, the bible must be true if the bible says it’s true. How can you argue with that kind of logic? Truth is, an indoctrinated mind is a mind lacking the common sense to question the entire premise.
But how can common sense win out when the seeds of religious dogma are planted into our heads from day one? It is very difficult for your common sense to win when you are subconsciously being programmed with little catch phrases like “the gospel truth” or “what would Jesus do?” This form of Christian brainwashing works so well on children is because circular reasoning is taught to be logical by people to whom the children look to for answers. This is why I think it’s important for all adult Christians to ask themselves one simple question: Is there anything that could be said, which if proven to be true, would make you reconsider your spiritual options? If you cannot answer “yes” to that question with all honesty, then your beliefs are probably based in fear of the unknown and not a clearheaded decision to believe that woman came from man’s rib, two of each animal on the planet lived harmoniously on a boat, and other ridiculous biblical claims.
Christians live by a strict code. They believe what the bible says and live their lives by it. Period. That is, unless they don’t agree with it, then they pick which verses work for them and they throw out the rest. The bible says that people who work on the Sabbath should be put to death. Christians are so messed up with this one, most of them think that by going to church on Sunday, they are keeping the Sabbath day holy…The Sabbath is Saturday, but don’t tell Joe Christian that because being religious for two days in a row is just too much for most people. “How am I supposed to get all fucked up Friday night and make it to church Saturday morning?” Christians also believe that the bible is the place to look for guidance in life. The truth is, the bible can’t even get a straight account on things as important as Jesus’ death. What were his last words? Was it, “Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit” or was it, “It is finished”? I guess he said both because the bible tells me so. Here’s another big one – when is the second coming of Christ?
MAT 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
MAR 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
LUK 21:32 Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
Verily I say unto you, MANY generations have passed since this prediction was made; yet the Christian mind will rationalize this by saying that a generation to us is different than a generation in the bible. Yes, Christians are notorious for redefining words to fit into the tiny little box that they call reality. When you realize that the bible is a work of art just like other world myths, there is a lot to be learned from it. But to view it as history is to look ridiculous to those who actually get it. Most Christians just want to maintain the status quo; they’ve never actually read the bible cover to cover. I have, twice.
I‘ll be honest, when I finally made the decision to open my bible and read it from cover to cover, I had a difficult time understanding some of it. But even theological scholars agree that the bible is a very difficult read. It’s nearly fifteen hundred pages long and after much editing, voting, rewrites, and discussion, the Catholic Church pieced together the entire book. The bible says what the Catholic Church wanted it to say and everything else was removed or rewritten. Inspired word of God, my ass. More like the inspired word of privileged men. Before all of the edits and rewrites happened, there were no chapters, no verses, no punctuation marks, not even vowels…that’s how the Old Testament was found. Before it was printed for the first time in 1488, it existed only in the form of manuscripts that were constantly exposed to erasures and additions…some refer to this as the Evolution of the Christian Religion. When written, Hebrew used no vowels whatsoever; marks and points to denote vowels were invented circa 700C.E. Whether these vowels were put in the proper places or not is still an open question.
It’s also important to note that the manuscripts of the Old Testament were not alike, the Greek version differed from the Hebrew version, and there was no one “true text” of the Old Testament until long after the beginning of the Christian era. Even today no one knows who wrote any of the books in the Old Testament. Even though they are titled with proper names like Ezra, Joshua, Ruth, Ester, Joel, Amos, etc., these are not the people who wrote those books. Read the bible and replace Jesus with Horus, Zeus, or Thor and common sense wins every time…it’s mythology! But change the names back to “God” and “Jesus” and people take that stuff so seriously, they (say that they) would lay down their lives for their beliefs. What a misnomer. Christian beliefs are not beliefs anymore than a koala bear is a bear. They don’t believe it, they KNOW it. But they have to say that they believe it, because completely spitting in the face of rational thinking requires too much confrontation. How can someone have such conviction for something and still call it a belief?
These beliefs are horrific – far beyond the scale of the Holocaust combined with the slaughter of indigenous people in what we now call America. Why would I say such a thing? Because if you don’t believe what the bible says, according to that very book, you will be tortured for eternity. However, many Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, Tartars, Africans, Eskimos, Persians, Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Polynesians, and many other peoples, are innocently ignorant of the Bible and its teachings. Innocent men, women and children will all be cast into hell because they never bowed down to worship a god that they’ve never heard of. If your god would cast these people into hell because they have never heard of him, then your god is not someone I care to do business with anyway.
All the Bible societies of the world have produced less than 5 million copies of the Bible, and there are about fifteen hundred million people. There are hundreds of languages in which the Bible has not been printed. So many people enter religion with reality and common sense checked at the door. They believe because everyone around them believes, and they don’t question because no one else is asking questions… if they broke away from the herd and started thinking freely, friends and family members would turn their backs on them. The mere thought of excommunication can send chills down the backs of Catholics worldwide. Going with the flow is so easy…besides, people like to place their bets on red AND black, just to be sure. Ignorance is bliss.
“If you believe in God and turn out to be incorrect, you have lost nothing — but if you don’t believe in God and turn out to be incorrect, you will go to hell.”
This is known as Pascal’s Wager. Blaise Pascal suggested that if reason cannot be trusted, it is a better wager to believe in God than to not. Blaise Pascal had never visited Las Vegas. To assume this perspective is to assume that the odds of there being a God are the same as the odds of there not. What if you are the one who hasn’t heard of the correct God? What if you are avoiding the wrong hell? This a ridiculous reaction to the fear of the unknown. By that logic, you’d be better off either abandoning all religion or believing in absolutely everything.
In my humble opinion, if there is a heaven and a hell; everyone who does nice things for people and lives an honest and moral life only because they will be rewarded with heaven in the afterlife, should burn in hell forever. If God really wanted to test our merits, he would have never told us about heaven and judged us based on how we live our lives without a reward or punishment in the afterlife. The Christian mentality tells me that if the bible were to say that hateful and spiteful actions would be rewarded in the afterlife, Christians would be strapping bombs to themselves and killing people of other religions…doing good things just because you want a reward in the afterlife is just as “sinful” as hurting others because you believe you will be rewarded in the afterlife.
