There's a chance this post could get me in trouble. Or leave a bad taste in the mouths of my 8 regular readers. But I've never been shy about speaking some truth. And with the Dirt Nap nipping at my heels, don't see a reason to start now.
I will however attempt to be evenhanded in my disbelief. Which came into incredibly clear view last week while scrolling through my social media feed(s).
Last week was Passover (and Easter and the beginning of Ramadan). I saw a cartoon that has stuck with me. Sadly I can't find it, but I can render a reasonable facsimile. The visual was of several ancient Hebrews, living in bondage in the land of Egypt, painting their doorways with lamb's blood. I guess the local Home Depot was out of Navajo White.
The caption below the cartoon read: We paint our doorways with blood so God knows which babies not to kill.
Wow. I thought god was all-knowing and all-powerful. Why does he need a makeshift GPS system for his rampant infanticide?
Moreover, why is god so intent on killing humans? I can't even begin to count the Old Testament stories that bear witness to god's testy and homicidal temper. I thought god loved us.
Speaking of love. I was under the impression that Jesus was all about love. You might find this surprising, but we learned quite a bit about Jesus in Hebrew School. All of it good, btw. Now, however, if you listen to some Red Hats, Jesus was not so soft spoken. Or, dare I say, woke. Apparently he was a closed border zealot and a gun toting warrior, hell bent on sticking it to the man.
They also taught us about the Christian origin story. Which, if we're all being honest, is as irrational as the god needs a kill-by-numbers paint set.
God had a son? Who is also him? Plus there's a ghost?
Wait, what?
Seven hundred or so years after the Trinity notion spread around the word, Arabs swung the pendulum back the other way and vigorously embraced monotheism. And following the example of their predecessors appointed certain men (always men) to be their prophets.
Mohammed was the last in a short line of prophets, who all arrived on Earth, all coincidentally in the Middle East, all between 6000 BC and 700 AD. How convenient.
Compare that 6700 year span to the life of our cosmos, which according to scientitians -- people who knew more than just goat herding--has been around for more than 13 BILLION years.
13,000,000,000.00
Oh and if I'm reading the Wikipedia page correctly, prophets are not divine. They are human. But for some reason drawing Mohammed or depicting him in any manner entitles one upset human being to kill another.
It's always about the killing.
I apologize in advance of my atheism rubs you the wrong way. My skepticism is in the red zone.
The other day I got into a little online political argument. Shocking, right? And my worthy opponent would have none of the facts. In the end he decided he wasn't buying what I was putting down (as the kids might say.) And, out of the blue, he offered to pray for me.
Yeah, sure, go ahead and pray for me, I'll be on the Peloton.
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