The Jesus Pitch That Will Not Die

Religious folks can be quite insistent that you embrace their particular belief system. I am not sure why they think you can change what you believe just by reading an email or some other insignificant event. But this woman, Jenny, she seems to think she can convert my friend Gary to Jesus through emails. Whatever.

Yesterday I said the emails were boring. But Gary's responses are quite interesting. So I'm going to share them with you:

The original exchange is here.

~~~ Then Jenny replied:

O.k. I won't. That is one thing the Lord Jesus lets us do & that is make our own decision. We have to choose to believe in HIM & have Faith. And Jesus is my decision, it just makes me sad for the people who are lost & won't know until it's too late.

~~~ Gary:

Good for you, I'm happy that you have something to get you through your days.

Please don't be sad for us. Even though you don't understand it, we are very happy people. I'm not going to try to explain it to you, because you wouldn't understand. And if you did understand, it would make you seriously question your beliefs. Trust me on that one.

~~~ Jenny:

No I wouldn't sweet heart, because I KNOW the WAY TRUTH & LIGHT and it's JESUS CHRIST THAT DIED ON THE CROSS FOR MY SINS! And I'm goin to heaven someday! Read revelations, a ton of stuff that says is going to happen has already happen!

~~~ Gary:

Already read it.. but guess what, you can also claim that a lot of what Nostradamus wrote came true too. But he was a drug addict and alcoholic who tended to ramble a lot. I'm not buying his nonsense either.

~~~ Gary again later:

You know.. you got me thinking..
You spouted some of the things that I often hear from people who claim to have read the bible, but really just sit back and let others do all the dirty work..

Well, 10 simple questions.
If you can answer these with real answers, and not some gobbledygook, I may be willing to discuss it.

1. Why is God called loving or merciful when, in the Old Testament's stories of the Israelite conquest, he specifically orders his chosen people to massacre their enemies, showing no mercy to men, women, even children and animals?

2. Does it make sense to claim, as the Bible does, that wrongdoing can be forgiven by magically transferring the blame from a guilty person to an innocent one, then punishing the innocent person?

3. Why does the Bible routinely depict God as manifesting himself in dramatic, unmistakable ways and performing obvious miracles even before the eyes of nonbelievers, when no such thing happens in the world today?

4. Why do vast numbers of Christians still believe in the imminent end of the world when the New Testament states clearly that the apocalypse was supposed to happen 2,000 years ago, during the lifetime of Jesus' contemporaries?

5. Why do Christians believe in the soul when neurology has found clear evidence that the sense of identity and personality can be altered by physical changes to the brain?

6. If it was always God's plan to provide salvation through Jesus, why didn't he send Jesus from the very beginning, instead of confusing and misleading generations of people by setting up a religion called Judaism which he knew in advance would prove to be inadequate?

7. Since the Bible states that God does not desire that anyone perish, but also states that the majority of humankind is going to hell, doesn't this show that God's plan of salvation is a failure even by his own standard? If this outcome is a success, what would count as a failure?

8. Why didn't God create human beings such that they freely desire to do good, thus removing the need to create a Hell at all? (If you believe this is impossible, isn't this the state that will exist in Heaven?)

9. Is it fair or rational for God to hide himself so that he can only be known by faith, then insist that every single human being find him by picking the right one out of thousands of conflicting and incompatible religions?

10. If you had the power to help all people who are suffering or in need, at no cost or effort to yourself, would you do it? If so, why hasn't God done this already?

(Gary found these questions At Daylight Atheism)

~~~Jenny:

Hey!

I'm gonna try to get in touch with my friend that is almost done at Anderson University that is a Pastor. No, I don't have all the answers to those questions. But I do know that sometimes the hard things we go through in life either teaches us things we need to know in ordr to become more like Jesus. Because we are his children & he teaches us & punishs us just like we do our kids. And the things we don't understand we just trust in the Lord & that is where our faith comes in.

I didn't read all you email, but yes if I got you thinking I'll try to get answers for you. Cuz yes I would love see you in heaven someday! You know there will be NO more tears or pain! That gets me excited!

I'll get back with you! May God bless you!

~~~Gary:

I think you just proved my point.

I don't really care to have your pastor answer the questions, I wanted you to read them and think about them...

You're the one who contacted me, trying to save my soul.

If you can't answer the questions, perhaps it's because there are no answers for them.

They are hard questions. Questions that are designed to make you think. I understand that religion wants you to not think, just have faith. And that's because if you do too much thinking, and analyzing the questions, you may realize that the answer to the question negates the concept you are questioning. Or in other words, if you look too deep, you may find that your religion is a pack of lies.

I have come to the realization that religion has a very real and insidious purpose in our society. It's primary objective is to keep people under control. It's why atheists are hated so much. We are not brainwashed by the church, so we must be evil.

If you buy into all of the doctrine, you are taught that you shouldn't question the bible or the church. Because if you do, it shows a lack of faith. So just be a good little xian, and have faith that we know what's best for you.

Once you are "under control", then anything is possible. Look at the Islamic Martyrs for example. With out very much prompting, they can be called on to crash airplanes into buildings in the largest city in the world. Why? Because the target of their hatred believes in a different deity. And the scary part, it's really not even a different deity, but the same one, with a different name. How incredibly insane is that?

You won't see me in your heaven, because there is no such place. It doesn't exist. It's a made up prize for a life that is lived in accordance with the wishes of a set of rules that the church decided were just.

You want to know something really funny. The rules that your church wants you to live by, are the rules that I already live by. I don't steal, I don't cheat, I don't lie, I don't kill. Do I need a church or a 1500 year old book of fiction to tell me that I have to do those things in order to live a good life? No. It's called Human Morality. The whole do unto others thing isn't an exclusive concept to religious people. It's something that everyone can live by, without need for a church.

Do I care whether you or others think I'll "go to hell" if I don't believe in your deity? Not really. I don't accept the concept of heaven or hell. It's really no problem for me. When I die, I'll be dead. There's no need to worry about going to hell. I also don't accept the premise of "Well, what would it hurt to have faith, just in case". That's lying. If I were to have faith, believe the nonsense of your religion, just in case, do you think that your deity would like that? I sure wouldn't.

Trust me. I don't take my position here lightly. This is my life, I live it according to what I understand to be true, from my life experience and my own quest for knowledge. I won't worry about my death as I don't live my life focused on my death, as do the majority of religious people I know. It's really cool, once you quit believing in fairy tales, you can actually go about living your life . Instead of constantly worrying about pissing off some imaginary man in the sky. It's rather liberating.

To be perfectly honest with you, I don't want anything after this life. This one was plenty. The idea that you can live forever, as you believe, really cheapens this life. I can attest that life is very precious. It's fleeting. It should be lived to its fullest. If you are bogged down with religion, you are not living. You are only trying to "make good" so that when you die you don't "go to hell".

So, in closing, don't bother your pastor with my questions. I really don't care what kind of non-answers he would give. But, I do highly recommend that you read the questions and consider them carefully. If you can't come up with a good answer for them, maybe the answer isn't that you just have to have faith, but that the answer is that the whole thing you were taught was wrong to begin with.