As for Christianity it
can be truly said, never has so much been promised and so little
delivered. Christianity, of course, has a plethora of variations, but
the list is long of the negative things that are generally true.
Christendom commonly or usually:
-
Actively teaches things that are untrue and evil in that they are
dangerous and superstitious.
-
Willfully keeps its people in ignorance concerning the evolution of the
OT and NT canons.
-
Willfully keeps its people in ignorance concerning the extent, magnitude
and significance of the difference between the theology of Jesus and
that of the other selected authors of the NT.
-
Willfully keeps its people in ignorance concerning the extent,
magnitude and significance of the differences between the Gospels, and
between various Gospel accounts.
-
Willfully keeps its people in ignorance concerning the evolution of its
organizational structures.
-
Violates Jesus' clear instruction against hierarchies and authority
figures by its authoritarian and hierarchal structures.
-
Commonly and blatantly violates its own teachings, and furiously covers
up its mistakes.
-
Produces more martyrs from other belief systems than it suffers.
-
When
faced with unsavory behavior by leaders or members, the sidestep
response is "don't look at the church".
-
Indulges in moral and social tyranny in that it arbitrarily tells people
what they can and cannot do on pain of being dis-fellowshipped,
excommunicated, or shunned.
-
Fosters
hypocrisy, paranoia, ignorance, defeatism, moral weakness, narrow
mindedness, superstition, etc.
-
Indulges in fear mongering to keep its “flock” in line.
-
Indulges in emotional and psychological manipulation to milk its people
for money.
-
Has a
set of ridiculous and sometimes horrible doctrines based on the NT book
of Revelation.
-
Has a
long history of both teaching and fostering legalism.
-
Many
times has pedestrian, juvenile and petty concepts of morality, purpose
and values.
-
Commonly frontally attacks our human dimensions of passion, romance and
sensuality, and rationality, logic and reason.
-
Is
willing to politically and socially sacrifice individuals "for the good
of the organization".
-
Fosters
megalomaniacal and arrogant organizations that think they are God's
special formal denominations.
-
Actively teaches a dark and sinister theology that is based in
misunderstandings from the Old Testament mythology.
-
If left
unchecked by more moderate humanitarian forces, produces social,
political and military tyranny backed up by force and violence.
-
Accepts
second to fourth hand accounts of what Jesus said and meant, written by
biased professional writers, as being on a footing equal with or greater
than eyewitness accounts.
-
Is
significantly based on the foolishness of an ignorant, thick-headed
fisherman who never listened closely with understanding or learned a
significant thing from his association with Jesus.
-
Is
based secondarily on a fanatical Pharisee they claim to be a prophet
and spokesman for God whose basis for "conversion" was a private,
unverifiable supernatural visit from Jesus, who was not initially nor
ever completely accepted even by the Disciples, who allied himself with
the existing power structure and put his stamp of approval on their new
rules, who for over 22 years roamed the world proselytizing and arguing
with the Jews in violation of the specific advice of Jesus, who allowed
other people to manipulate him into observing the old sacraments when he
"knew" better, who listened to people give one side of a dispute and
then pronounced judgments without hearing the other side, who took upon
himself the authority to excommunicate a man because of who he was
living with, whose theology is still based on wrong concepts from the
OT, whose concept of righteousness is based on pretension, who became an
apologist for and fostered hierarchal and authoritarian organization,
who had the audacity to suggest that other people emulate him, who could
not get along even with those close to him, who never came into unity
with anyone, and who needlessly died a martyr, cold, alone and
complaining in prison.
-
Breeds
fanatics with extremely unsavory and unreasonable ideas and
interpretations.
-
Builds
some of its doctrines on clearly mistranslated verses in the bible.
-
Fails
to make a clear distinction between revelation and inspiration for its
people.
-
Fosters
denominations that indulge in power politics and resort to legal means
to enforce their ownership and control of congregations and members.
-
Trivializes the spirit of the last supper service by Jesus by making a
sacrament and holding formal "communion" services periodically to eat a
little wafer and drink a little grape juice or wine, and sometimes meet
down in a classroom to wash each other's clean feet.
-
Produces somewhat learned theologians who are afraid to say and share
what they really think and believe.
-
Over
the centuries vacillates between Adventism and some other eschatological
system.
-
Imposes
OT "based" doctrines on its people that even the writer Paul clearly
denied.
-
Indulges in intellectual tyranny by "protecting" its students and
members from hearing both sides of issues and disputes.
-
Claims
to have superior wisdom for living but does not have a member life-span
or divorce rate significantly different from a comparable socio-economic
control group.
-
Was
actively and viciously in competition with Gnosticism, the other
religion spawned by the Jesus incident, and wiped them out with the
sword between 1350 AD and 1400 AD.
-
Claims
that the Bible is the word of God in spite of the fact that the most
authentic book in the Bible (John) denies it.
-
Fosters
sexism, and marriage relationships based on ownership and sexist,
authoritarian control.
-
Fosters
living and personal interaction based on obligation rather than
inspiration.
-
Adopts
the mundane and trivial, materialistic, Judeo concept of the Kingdom of
the heavens refuted by Jesus, and only moves it in space and postpones
it in time.
-
Teaches
that God has a chronological agenda that is more important than His
people.
-
Has
adopted the concept of the ultimate Lord of Light (Jesus) and Lord of darkness
(Satan)
dualism from Persian Mazdaism and Zoroastrianism.
-
Actively teaches concepts about God/reality which are mutually exclusive
and create unbearable psychological tension, such as, infinite grace vs
immutable spiritual law and infinite mercy vs literal eternal punishment
by burning.
-
Generally indulges in obfuscation and obscurantism in its doctrines and
explanations by making things mystical and impossible to understand.
-
Pressures people to make a "decision" or take a “stand” for "Christ",
which is always really a decision for, and a commitment to, that
particular brand
of Christianity.
-
Is
guilty of trying to solve universal problems by mundane methods,
problems insoluble by this approach.
-
Is
guilty of producing superficial definitions for life, soul, good and
evil, love, freedom, etc.
-
Is
guilty of fostering worship of the "apostles" and their personal ideas.
-
Is
guilty of denying the clearest and most meaningful aspect of the message
of Jesus.
-
Promulgates the idea that the Bible is inerrant, when even the
most important books for the Bible (Gospels) have significant
irreconcilable differences. See Gospel Compare
-
Is theologically stagnant and is wandering around in a spiritual
wilderness.
While the article goes too far in its claims, it is still one of the strongest
attacks on the foundations of Christianity. Bottom line no matter what:
this article does not destroy the authenticity of the Gospel of John nor
the gospel of Thomas and the message of Jesus therein.
The
Forged Origins of the New Testament