69. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 

*

Almost all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still holding strongly the view of Creationism.  Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught.  The catholic Church has almost accepted or at least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II  (1996) tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an anathema to them.

 

Mutation,which is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE  words! But in the words of Genesis I have my own questions.

Genesis 2:18  -- The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis  1:27  --  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:21  --  "So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh."

 

Genesis 2:18  So god did not think of creating man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a "helper" to him!

In Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21 creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give such varied mode of creation.

 

There is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God  know at the time of creation that some of his creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just 6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to 4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to accept even these proved results.

 

Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest! There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!! The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us need not be a 24-hour day for god!

 

"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the genesis story of the seven  days of creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith by John Dewey (1859 - 1952)

 

In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket in Christianity.  Such  mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian faiths. Let me take just two examples.

 

The first is one of the Sacraments  - confession, among Catholics. When I was a kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long. Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter, Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession has become a non-functioning sacrament now.

 

Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should start from the first minute after  birth. Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.

 

=============

Ref:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion

68. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 

*

Mostly in all mythologies, animals would come and 'talk' to humans in understandable human language. Such a case happens in Bible too! In Genesis, a serpent comes and talks to Eve. I don’t know in what language! Who or what is this serpent? Is it any allegory, a  serpent representing the devil? But whatever it could be, it was quite efficient and very tricky.( I wonder how do you believe this story, a kid stuff, just like that. God's word??)

Genesis 2:9,: "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

So there were two types of trees in the midst of the garden; one was good and the other was a tree of knowledge of good and evil. If fruits of the latter tree were eaten, they would leave behind their blissful state of innocence.

God forbids  Adam and Eve to eat the 'fruit' of the second tree. But everything goes awry!  God becomes  very angry and goes in search of Adam. Genesis 3:8 "… Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” So the almighty god could not even find him in the garden of Eden! Another part of the kid stuff!!  Then god's curse is followed. So god did not know earlier that Adam would disobey his orders.

"… Adam's decision to disobey God originated with Adam and not with God eluded by the claim that God foreknew from eternity that just that eternity that decision would bemade. The ruse here is the insistence that God foreknew from eternity that Adam would freely choose to disoney God. But the very notion of freedom as originative casualty loses loses its meaning in such an interpretation".  -- Reason and religion: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Rem B. Edwards (pp180)

******

Why is god against knowledge?

• ·         Proverbs 1:7: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." 
• ·         Proverbs 9:10  -- The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,…
• ·         Corinthians 1:19  -- “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;   the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.
• ·         Corinthians 3:20  --  “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.

Have two doubts on the above quotes. Firstly, why should god be so against knowledge, wisdom, intelligence? Does it now show my contention - that no religion can stand against rationality - is quite correct? Faith, if rationally questioned, might develop a week knee.

Secondly, christianiy is always proclaimed by the believers that it is a religion of love. They say their god is so merciful and their god loves us all. But this quote - Proverbs 1:7 -- " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. -- says that "fear"  is the essential and only from fear knowledge grows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

67. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT

 

*

Almost all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still holding strongly the view of Creationism.  Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught.  The catholic Church has almost accepted or at least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II  (1996) tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an anathema to them.

Mutation,which is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE  words! But in the words of Genesis I have my own questions.

Genesis 2:18  -- The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis  1:27  --  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:21  --  "So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh." 

Genesis 2:18  So god did not think of creating man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a "helper" to him!

In Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21 creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give such varied mode of creation. 

There is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God  know at the time of creation that some of his creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just 6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to 4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to accept even these proved results. 

Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest! There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!! The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.  Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us need not be a 24-hour day for god! 

"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the genesis story of the seven  days of creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith by John Dewey (1859 - 1952) 

In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket in Christianity.  Such  mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian faiths. Let me take just two examples. 

The first is one of the Sacraments  - confession, among Catholics. When I was a kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long. Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter, Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession has become a non-functioning sacrament now. 

Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should start from the first minute after  birth. Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.

 

=============

Ref:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion

66. IS JESUS GOD? NO … so says Bible! ... 7

IS JESUS GOD?

NO … so say Biblical verses!

 

 

Holy Trinity is a mystic dogma of Christianity. None knows the meaning; none should even try to find its meaning; at least that is what every Christian child is taught. Even when I was a believer one question used to lurk at the back of my mind. They say Three Gods .. but all in one …but always the Father is being forgotten. But for the Lord's prayer, all other prayers always end up either with Jesus or Holy Spirit. When my faith started shaking I tried to delve into this. Surprisingly and luckily I got a book in Tamil with the title "Jesus of Jews and Christ of ST. Paul" (யூதர்களின் இயேசுவும் பவுலின் கிறிஸ்துவும்). I found this book very extensive and it elaborately deals with both the Old and New Testaments. St. Paul, who became the follower of Jesus after his crucifixion, says that god had sent Jesus, the messiah to 'liberate' the Israelites from their bondage in the O.T. very clearly. Jesus calls himself as the son of god, messenger from god, the way to reach Father, and so on.  But never proclaims that he is 'the god'!  After Paul came into Christian faith he wants to expand the religion far and wide, while it had been a religion for Jews alone initially. Many verses in the testaments stand a witness to that. Paul wants to break this bondage between Jesus and Israelites and wants to make the religion open to all, Jews  and  the 'gentiles'. He comes out with concessions for these new converts, like freeing them from circumcision, which was considered ' a must' for earlier Christians.

Evidences for the above are only from the two testaments. The list is as follows:

Exodus 3:15   --   "God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation."

God proclaims that he is the god of the Israelites

Exodus 5:2    --    Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”  So, Pharaoh did not know about the god of Israelites.

Exodus 29:45

 Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.  - So god of O.T. is the god only for Israelites. 

Exodus 34:15,16; Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Lavier 25:42-45; Ezra 9:11-15

All these verses command that gentiles had to be treated as untouchables or as enemies, or as slaves  by the Jews.

The land of Israelites was of two different regions; the northern side was called Israel and the southern side was called Judea. In 596 B.C. a gentile king, Nebuchadnezzar went to war against Judea and won. Israelites felt bad that their god had been defeated.

Jeremiah 51:34    --  "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out. 

Jeremiah 25:6-9  -- god orders them "go not after other gods to serve them'. Jeremiah accused the Israelites worshipping other gods and god had forsaken them because of that. 

Ezra 9:12 -- give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: " Ezra  said that god had forsaken them since they went against the orders of the god. 

Messiah as a savior of Israelite

Jeremiah 23:3-6

³ And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

⁴ And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.

⁵ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

⁶ In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness. 

Based on the above verses, Messiah, as the Saviour was expected to achieve  good things for Jews. 

Ezekiel 36:24, 28

²⁴ For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 

Ezekiel 37:28

 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 

Zephaniah 3:15

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, 

¹⁵ The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. 

Jeremiah 51:24

²⁴ And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord. 

Jeremiah 51:36

³⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. 

Thus O.T. explicitly shows that Jesus was more a rebellious messiah to bring freedom to Israelites. Never was he given the status of a god. 

NEW TESTAMENT

Matthew 1:1-16;  Luke 3:23-34    -  Both give the genealogy of Jesus but both vary so much. Even the father of Joseph, father of Jesus, were of two different persons in the two gospels. In Matthew the number of generations between Abraham and Jesus is 41 but in Luke it is 56. 

Luke 1:1-4  -- Luke claims that he went through the two earlier gospels of Matthew  and Mark written before his time and then wrote his gospel. But he had changed some incidents narrated in the other two gospels which show that Jesus was in support of only the Israelites. For instance Matthew and Mark quote an example of a dialogue between Jesus and an expert in the law. But Luke extends the incident and gives the story of good Samaritan. This story actually gives great credit to Jesus, as it shows that though Jews are expected to keep off Samaritans, Jesus shows his love to them.  While Luke is extrapolating the above incident , he just avoids the questionable story of a Canaanite woman pleading to help her daughter. This story tells the hatred of Jews on gentiles. Luke conveniently skips this story. Instead, Luke writes elaborately  on the love and support Jesus showed to gentiles, putting Jesus in different brighter light. 

Jews and specifically the chosen apostles who are all Jews expect that Messiah would come and liberate them from all their social and political bondages. However, when Jesus does not do what they expected, most of the Jews startthinking that Messiah would come later. These are the non-believing Jews and their religion is Judaism. With these confusing state of affairs as the backdrop, Paul comes into the scene and he starts working on Christianity-For-All, and not for Israelites alone. Only in A.D.36 Paul gets introduced in Bible and  because of his efforts only after A.D. 49 the terms "Christ" and "Chrisitians" come into being. It is Paul who wants to introduce Jesus to gentiles too. There are some changes and additions to Bible because of this. One big controversy is about the verses " He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”. (Mark 16:15)  Till now that controversy exists. According to one school of thought the verses Mark 16:9-20 are considered as inclusions at a later period. The two copies of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus do not contain these verses. 

Around B.C.36, biblically Paul first gets introduced as an enemy against Jesus. Then he gets converted and accepts Jesus as the Messiah. But he is not happy with his work since many Jews remained as non-believers.  So Paul wants to broaden his work to bring all the people into faith. But to transform a regional or tribal leader to a higher status is s not that easy. Paul, of the 27 books in N.T. writes14 letters to many different people. Another 2 books are written by Luke; of these the first one is the gospel and other was Acts of the Apostles. In all these 16 books efforts are made to liberate Jesus from all regional or tribal or racial boundaries. These two people are also unknown to each other and only after the death of Jesus, they meet and take united efforts to achieve their common goal. Their intended plan can be proved by two verses from Bible. 

Acts of Apos 13:46  Then Paul And Barnabas Answered Them Boldly: "We Had To Speak The Word Of God To You First. Since You Reject It And Do Not Consider Yourselves Worthy Of Eternal Life, We Now Turn To The Gentiles. 

Galatians 1:15,16

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased

¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.

This second set of verses are highly questionable. Paul says that he was selected by God even before his birth. If so, how come he is against Jesus till A.D.36 ? 

Efforts of Paul are not successful in the beginning. Paul and his new concepts are sidelined by all since people do not believe what he said. Biblical verses are also against what Paul  preaches.

Genesis 17:11

¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

This verse very clearly indicates the covenant between Jehova  and mankind. But Paul goes against  this with a new verse.

Romans 2:26-31

Verse 29:  --  Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter; his praise is not from human beings but from God. 

Galatians 5:2  --  ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

Then  Paul even goes one step further:

Galatians 5:2:  -- ² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 

Paul startsed opposing the age old laws of Moses and circumcision but the apostles oppose the concepts of him. (Act 15:23,24).  Paul and his associates like Barnaba wanted to have a discussion with the apostles and Elders. (Act 15:1-3) Group of Paul wanted to have an exemption with their two demands on Laws of Moses and circumcision. The Council of Jerusalem is convened in A.D.49. In the discussion Peter supportsed Paul. Jacob, brother of Jesus is also pulled in by Paul. (Galatians 1:18,19) After this many a time Paul sends donations to Jerusalem.(1 Corinthians 16:2-4,  2 Corinthians 9:5 & 8: 10,20; 4:16-19 Roamer 15:26,27; Philippians 4:16,19)   

When Jacob talks in support of gentiles, he cannot quote any incident wherein Jesus serves gentiles in any way. If at all there are some incidents they could only be the handiwork of Luke or translators at later period. In spite of all these things the Jerusalem council gives Paul the right to work with gentiles. Council exempts new gentile converts from the laws of Moses and circumcision. It is a concession extended to them. But later Paul takes a view that O.T. could be discarded totally. (Act 21.20,21) 

In spite of all these, the true apostles are against taking Jesus out of Jewish boundary. But Paul steadily undoes the Jewish boundary of Jesus.  Unlike many of the chosen illiterate apostles, Paul is a great scholar in Greek and he takes up that language to give a new status to Jesus. The term "Christos" in  Greek means 'god acceptable to all'. Based on this term  Jesus is introduced by him as "Christ". He goes with this in spite of the objection from some apostles.  (Roamer 1:2-5) 

Roamer 1:2-5:  --  "..the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³ regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 

Thus both historically and biblically, Paul is able to bring greater changes in the course of Christianity. A religion which is meant to be for a small sect of people gets wider to embrace all those in this world. But over and above, he is able to make a "man" into a "GOD". So says the history. Wonder how many Christians know this sea change in their faith!