This is part eight in a nine part series. To take a gander at part seven click this link. Scroll to the end for part nine.
As a recap of the prior post, I went through a lot, lost my faith in God, and decided to give a strong effort to regain my faith. I began my study in the Bible, using the Mormon version of the King James version. Please note that I do not intend to hurt or offend. Simply stated my desire is to help you understand some of what I learned.
I’ll share a few gems that I found, in no particular order. I found that Yahweh (Yahweh is Jesus or God) commands forced abortions. This is done based on a law called The Law of Jealousies. See Exodus 29, Numbers 5, and Exodus 20. One of the commandments is to not be jealous of your neighbor, to not covet that which your neighbor owns or has. You know the one I’m talking about. Well, there is an exception in the law. If you are jealous of your wife for any reason you can bring her before the priest at the tabernacle. In the courtyard the priest picks up some of the dirt, mixes it with water, chants an incantation, and the woman is forced to drink it.
This dirt, as stated, is from the tabernacle grounds. Not just any part of the grounds, but from where the ritual of animal sacrifice happens. Where blood, guts, brains, poop, yes poop, and other stuff is bled or cleaned out of the animal into the dirt. Has anybody heard of e coli, salmonella, campylobacter, and I could go on and on and on? They hadn’t, but you have. The woman is forced to drink this concoction and if she is pregnant with another man’s child she will lose the baby and her womb. If she is not pregnant, but was unfaithful, then she loses her womb. If she was faithful she doesn’t get sick (and she must continue living with the man that subjected her to this treatment).
When I first read this I thought, no, uh uh, I read that wrong. So I studied a bit through various universities that offer online bible courses, and Jewish studies, and found that I was correct. Why would you be jealous of your spouse? Well maybe you’ve been gone at war, killing babies, women, and children in the name of your god, and come home to her not being readily willing to jump your bones, or you think that maybe she was unfaithful while you were out raping and killing, or you just think she was just simply unfaithful to you. Now, you could say that god was just punishing that woman for being unfaithful. Ok, fine, have that thought. A god that is just would also have a similar law for men, but no such law exists. If Yahweh did do this to punish an unfaithful woman then shame on him. This is a sick thing to do, and I don’t want anything to do with that god. That is a tyrannical psychopath deity, and please keep him away from me.
I wasn't done, so I kept reading. Another I found was from Deuteronomy 22. I call it The Virgin Bride. When you marry, and you go to consummate the wedding and decide for whatever reason (she didn’t perform well in bed, she cried, you didn’t realize she had a wart on her stomach, or breast, or wouldn’t do what you wanted in bed) that you don’t want to be with her you can accuse her of not having been a virgin when she married you. If the parents can provide the tokens of her virginity then the man can’t divorce her, ever. But if they can’t then she is to be stoned, to death, bloodily beaten to a pulp. Look up videos of stoning if you want, it happens in Iran on a regular basis. There are videos of it, it’s very gruesome and disgusting. I couldn’t stomach more than a few seconds.
What are the tokens of virginity? Well, after some more study, and going to jewish websites and sources, I found that what I believed to be the tokens are correct. It is the hymen and the bleeding that happens when the hymen is broken. Yes, the hymen. The piece of skin that in some women is so thin that they never even knew they had one and it never bleeds when broken. Or, that in other women is not that thin, but is thin enough that a simple horse ride with a saddle would break it, let alone a ride without a saddle. It is widely known amongst all medical professionals and courts in the modern day that the presence or absence of the hymen does not indicate a person is a virgin. It doesn’t work that way, but this is what Yahweh’s law called for. A perfect all knowing deity said that this is how life works? It sounds more like uneducated goat herders coming up with laws. Don’t believe me? Read it yourself.
Oh, then there is the Rape to Marry law. You just said or thought “What?”, didn’t you? Regardless, that’s what it says. See the same book and chapter. The earlier verses discuss what to do when a man rapes a women, or if adultery is found. But this one, right at the end, says that if a man is found to have slept with a women, that is not betrothed, he pays her father 50 shekels and gets to mary the girl. While discussing this with a friend they said “It’s an out for teens that decide to be sexualy active.”. “An out from what, being stoned to death?” said I. “Yes” was the reply. Well, that may be, but it also says is that if I, as a guy, really like this girl, but I can’t get her because of social status, I can rape her where we can be found, by my friend that I’ve paid to help me out, and then all I have to do is pay her father 50 shekels and she is mine. Literally, mine. She is used goods and isn’t of any use anymore because she is no longer a virgin. That’s what the law of Moses teaches.
Now, about this law being a way out from being stoned. According to LDS theology the law we currently have was had among the believers in Yahweh prior to the time of Moses, when he was known as El. This higher law was given to Moses, but was not given to the children of Israel due to idolatry, and they were given a lesser law. So, what you want me to believe is that the law started out do not have premarital sexual relations and if you do you will need to repent. If you are adulterous you should be forgiven up to three times, but then cast out from the congregation if it happens again. The law then changed to something much worse, to a death sentence, or being forced to be married to your rapist.
The verses that describe the above law also explains what happens if the women is raped in the city. If she is raped where she can be heard, but doesn't or isn't able to yell sufficiently loud to attract others attention, that it is her fault. The punishment for this: being stoned to death. Some of this applies to the man that rapes the girl, but only in certain scenarios.
Then when you realize this still happens today, it gets sick. I cannot read articles like the following, about a 10 year old girl being raped, without realizing what played out was exactly as it is written in the Law of Moses. After she was raped a plan to have her put to death was discussed, and set in motion. This is because she is now used goods. Then the preacher that raped her offered to marry her instead of her being stoned for bringing this dishonor on the family. This is disgusting, but it was a part of the law that Yahweh gave to Moses. This isn’t a lesser law, 20 steps down from celestial law, or even godly at all. It is an ancient tribal law still practiced in some areas today.
Since the Israelites couldn’t handle the Celestial law they were given a lesser law. It said if you have an adulterous relationship you should be put to death by your peers and by stoning, a possible long and slow form of death. If you are involved in premarital sex, and are a woman, you will be stoned. While that may not be the same doctrine we have today, it is the basis for current doctrine (see The Miracle of Forgiveness, and a talk by Richard G Scott in April conference, 1992). According to LDS theology you may be at fault for getting raped, or for somebody abusing you. Bull Shit. That is wrong. My actions cannot control another person’s choices and actions. We are responsible for our own actions. If a girl wears revealing clothes it is not an invitation to rape. She is only responsible for what she has chosen to wear. She is not responsible for the actions of another. If so then maybe the third Article of Faith should be changed to ‘We believe that man will be punished for their own sins, and the sins of others, but not for Adam’s transgression.’.
You are never at fault for somebody else's actions, unless you are a backwards bronze age tribe member. That’s not a lesser law. It’s a far worse, bronze age, sick and demented form of thinking. It’s the type of thinking that you would expect to come from back country rednecks, or middle east ancient goat herders, not an all knowing god. When I read these verses again I could not believe I had read this before and been fine with it. Maybe I didn't truly understand it? Maybe I was just reading to read, to say I had read it? I don't know for sure, but I could not believe that I once believed that this was fine, or OK because an all knowing god had commanded it. To be honest, while I had read it previously, I had never actually thought about it. The fact that the god of the Old Testament was a violent being was always taught, but I’d never actually thought about the specifics of it.
Do you give any kind of praise to Hitler for killing so many Jews? After all, the Torah itself explains that Yahweh used wicked people to fulfill his will in destroying the children of Israel when they disobeyed. Well, why do you give praise to Joshua or Moses for committing genocide? They killed, not just the men, but the teenagers, the women, the children, and the pregnant women. The unborn children. Why? Because they would expose the Israelites to gods other than Yahweh, and pervert his ways.
Let’s think about this. LDS doctrine says that children that die under the age of 8 (age of accountability) automatically go to the Celestial Kingdom. Even if the age was different back then, this still applies. So all of the children were so blessed because their parents were idolatrous, that they had to be killed to go to the Celestial Kingdom? What? Then why not let them live and help convert their parents to Yahweh? This is the type of stuff that Attila the Hun did. It’s sick, wrong, and should not ever be celebrated. The words to Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho may as well be "Joshua killed women and children in Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua killed women and children in Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down...". Biblical leaders receive praise from Christians and Jews alike because God commanded them to kill women, children, unborn children, the men, the animals, but sometimes not the virgins.
God commanded the Israelites to have slaves. To ENSLAVE human beings. He didn’t just condone it, he commanded it. He then commanded them to kill all the men, women, and children in some cities, but keep the virgin women alive, and keep the virgins for themselves. The first three of the Ten Commandments say worship me, but in all the Law of Moses there is nothing about not enslaving other human beings. If you think that ended with Jesus, think again. If it was wrong, and shouldn’t have been practiced, this truth could have and should have been restored with the restoration, not after the federal government threatened to remove the church’s non profit status.
I can go on, and on, and on, from selling your daughter as a slave is fine by Yahweh, to killing a slave is not murder unless they die the day you beat them, and having any physical defect, including damaged testicles, prevents you from being able to make sacrifice in the tabernacle, but you must perform genital mutilation on all boys. It’s backwards thinking. It’s not godly, it comes from a tribe of people trying to explain the world around them and maintain order. I got so far reading, couldn’t keep going straight and had to skip around, and just had to stop reading in the Old Testament. This wasn’t a lesser law, it was the law of bronze age Middle East goat herders. I moved on to the New Testament, and couldn’t get very far there either.
I took various online courses from many colleges, from many viewpoints regarding the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) and the New Testament. You can’t learn facts about them without completely doubting any veracity of them. If you want links to many of the things I've just explained just ask, and you shall receive.
I was discussing this with a friend. That friend said “Hey, it sounds like you just watched a bunch of youtube videos and are spewing out what you learned.”. Well, no. That didn’t happen until after I had read all of these things for myself, and thought about them for myself. I went to youtube and I was ecstatic to find I wasn't alone in my thoughts. There is an enormous world of people that have already come to the same understanding. There are the likes of Seth Andrews, the late Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, AronRa, Holy Koolaid, TellTale, DarkMatter, Mr. Deity, 43Alley, and so many more. I digress, so I'll keep going.
If Yahweh is god, then I really want nothing to do with him, and do not care about him, because he is one sick being. I don't know what you are thinking at this point. One person I spoke with said "But if you train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.". Well, when the punishment for leaving your faith is death, then yeah, he's probably not going to stray from it. It's a good way to exert power and control. As culture changed so did that law, as is evidenced from the New Testament itself. Well, that control still needs to be held. This is why the scriptures say things to the effect of if you deny the holy ghost you will be cast out or be in hell.
Culturally we do not accept the stoning of people for leaving their religion (neither do the mainstream Jews anymore, but it is still preferred in Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and other cultures that remain barberic). People in civilized areas cannot be scared with death for leaving their religion any more, so they must be scared with everlasting torture in order to keep them controlled. Just read the following.
D&C 84:40-41 40 Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.
41 But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.
D&C 76:30-49 (I’m only pasting a couple verses) 34 Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come— 35 Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame. 36 These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels— 37 And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; 38 Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath.
Think about this for a minute. I am one of these people. All I have done is a thought crime, but am sentenced to eternal damnation for it. However, according to the doctrine of all Christianity, a person that is complete trash, that doesn’t ever repent of raping, yes raping, a baby, and continues to rape that baby for years, can still go to Heaven. In LDS theology that piece of garbage of a human being can go to the celestial kingdom if he repents. If he doesn’t he still goes to heaven. He still gets a degree of glory. All he has to do is say “Yes, I believe Jesus is the Christ”, and kind of repent. However, if he says “but I’m not willing to repent of my sins” then he suffers for 1000 years, and then still goes to the telestial kingdom. He still gets a degree of glory.
However, since I have said I do not believe it, nay, I cannot, I am damned for eternity, set to suffer in outer darkness with great wailing and gnashing of teeth. My crime is a crime of thought. It is victimless. I have never raised my voice, hand, or manly superiority against my wife. As an adult I have never hit another person with the intent to harm them. I have done all I could to help those around me, as evidenced by my story, to a fault. If somebody wants to tell me that what I have done is worse, and deserves a far worse punishment than the garbage that continually beats, tortures, or rapes thier child, please don’t. I do not deserve to be spoken to in that tone of voice, or in that language. If it turns out that I am wrong, and you are right, then I am glad for my choice. I would not want to be with such a deity. That deity withholds his knowledge or blessing from you until you ask in just the right way, with just the right faith. This is called sadism.
Every terrible trait that exists in murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and otherwise terrible human beings exist in Yahweh, and every reincarnation of him. That deity withholds physical and temporal blessings from young children dying of cancer. He withholds his blessing from children who suffer years and years of abuse. All so, what, his judgement can be just? So you could you look at Elizabeth Smart, or the 13 Turpin children, in the eyes and tell them that it’s OK that they were tortured and abused for so long, because it means God can punish their abusers? I could not do it.
It is not OK that they suffered. One time is too many. If it was so important for the Israelites to kill their neighbors rather than be indoctrinated by them, why is it so important for piece of shit human beings to be parents? Is it so the judgement against them is just? Does this mean that abusers cannot repent? If bad people are allowed to do bad things to the righteous so that god’s judgement is just, it is inferred that those people then cannot repent. If they are allowed to repent, then there was no reason for the abuse to go on and on, as no just judgement was necessary. There is no answer that is acceptable. I’ve thought about it long and hard, over many years. The worship of this god is wrong, and I cannot participate in it anymore.
You may say “But I didn’t gain my testimony about Jesus or the church through the Old Testament….”. Remember, Christianity is a sect of Judaism. It is based on the same belief that the Jews, and all Israelites, believed. It is based on the Law of Moses. It is based on bronze aged thinking, and while I too did not gain the testimony I once had by reading the Old Testament, it sure helped me realize the fallacy of the belief.
So, who am I, where am I, and what will I do with my life. Well, you can get a glimpse in this post.
As a recap of the prior post, I went through a lot, lost my faith in God, and decided to give a strong effort to regain my faith. I began my study in the Bible, using the Mormon version of the King James version. Please note that I do not intend to hurt or offend. Simply stated my desire is to help you understand some of what I learned.
I’ll share a few gems that I found, in no particular order. I found that Yahweh (Yahweh is Jesus or God) commands forced abortions. This is done based on a law called The Law of Jealousies. See Exodus 29, Numbers 5, and Exodus 20. One of the commandments is to not be jealous of your neighbor, to not covet that which your neighbor owns or has. You know the one I’m talking about. Well, there is an exception in the law. If you are jealous of your wife for any reason you can bring her before the priest at the tabernacle. In the courtyard the priest picks up some of the dirt, mixes it with water, chants an incantation, and the woman is forced to drink it.
This dirt, as stated, is from the tabernacle grounds. Not just any part of the grounds, but from where the ritual of animal sacrifice happens. Where blood, guts, brains, poop, yes poop, and other stuff is bled or cleaned out of the animal into the dirt. Has anybody heard of e coli, salmonella, campylobacter, and I could go on and on and on? They hadn’t, but you have. The woman is forced to drink this concoction and if she is pregnant with another man’s child she will lose the baby and her womb. If she is not pregnant, but was unfaithful, then she loses her womb. If she was faithful she doesn’t get sick (and she must continue living with the man that subjected her to this treatment).
When I first read this I thought, no, uh uh, I read that wrong. So I studied a bit through various universities that offer online bible courses, and Jewish studies, and found that I was correct. Why would you be jealous of your spouse? Well maybe you’ve been gone at war, killing babies, women, and children in the name of your god, and come home to her not being readily willing to jump your bones, or you think that maybe she was unfaithful while you were out raping and killing, or you just think she was just simply unfaithful to you. Now, you could say that god was just punishing that woman for being unfaithful. Ok, fine, have that thought. A god that is just would also have a similar law for men, but no such law exists. If Yahweh did do this to punish an unfaithful woman then shame on him. This is a sick thing to do, and I don’t want anything to do with that god. That is a tyrannical psychopath deity, and please keep him away from me.
I wasn't done, so I kept reading. Another I found was from Deuteronomy 22. I call it The Virgin Bride. When you marry, and you go to consummate the wedding and decide for whatever reason (she didn’t perform well in bed, she cried, you didn’t realize she had a wart on her stomach, or breast, or wouldn’t do what you wanted in bed) that you don’t want to be with her you can accuse her of not having been a virgin when she married you. If the parents can provide the tokens of her virginity then the man can’t divorce her, ever. But if they can’t then she is to be stoned, to death, bloodily beaten to a pulp. Look up videos of stoning if you want, it happens in Iran on a regular basis. There are videos of it, it’s very gruesome and disgusting. I couldn’t stomach more than a few seconds.
What are the tokens of virginity? Well, after some more study, and going to jewish websites and sources, I found that what I believed to be the tokens are correct. It is the hymen and the bleeding that happens when the hymen is broken. Yes, the hymen. The piece of skin that in some women is so thin that they never even knew they had one and it never bleeds when broken. Or, that in other women is not that thin, but is thin enough that a simple horse ride with a saddle would break it, let alone a ride without a saddle. It is widely known amongst all medical professionals and courts in the modern day that the presence or absence of the hymen does not indicate a person is a virgin. It doesn’t work that way, but this is what Yahweh’s law called for. A perfect all knowing deity said that this is how life works? It sounds more like uneducated goat herders coming up with laws. Don’t believe me? Read it yourself.
Oh, then there is the Rape to Marry law. You just said or thought “What?”, didn’t you? Regardless, that’s what it says. See the same book and chapter. The earlier verses discuss what to do when a man rapes a women, or if adultery is found. But this one, right at the end, says that if a man is found to have slept with a women, that is not betrothed, he pays her father 50 shekels and gets to mary the girl. While discussing this with a friend they said “It’s an out for teens that decide to be sexualy active.”. “An out from what, being stoned to death?” said I. “Yes” was the reply. Well, that may be, but it also says is that if I, as a guy, really like this girl, but I can’t get her because of social status, I can rape her where we can be found, by my friend that I’ve paid to help me out, and then all I have to do is pay her father 50 shekels and she is mine. Literally, mine. She is used goods and isn’t of any use anymore because she is no longer a virgin. That’s what the law of Moses teaches.
Now, about this law being a way out from being stoned. According to LDS theology the law we currently have was had among the believers in Yahweh prior to the time of Moses, when he was known as El. This higher law was given to Moses, but was not given to the children of Israel due to idolatry, and they were given a lesser law. So, what you want me to believe is that the law started out do not have premarital sexual relations and if you do you will need to repent. If you are adulterous you should be forgiven up to three times, but then cast out from the congregation if it happens again. The law then changed to something much worse, to a death sentence, or being forced to be married to your rapist.
The verses that describe the above law also explains what happens if the women is raped in the city. If she is raped where she can be heard, but doesn't or isn't able to yell sufficiently loud to attract others attention, that it is her fault. The punishment for this: being stoned to death. Some of this applies to the man that rapes the girl, but only in certain scenarios.
Then when you realize this still happens today, it gets sick. I cannot read articles like the following, about a 10 year old girl being raped, without realizing what played out was exactly as it is written in the Law of Moses. After she was raped a plan to have her put to death was discussed, and set in motion. This is because she is now used goods. Then the preacher that raped her offered to marry her instead of her being stoned for bringing this dishonor on the family. This is disgusting, but it was a part of the law that Yahweh gave to Moses. This isn’t a lesser law, 20 steps down from celestial law, or even godly at all. It is an ancient tribal law still practiced in some areas today.
Since the Israelites couldn’t handle the Celestial law they were given a lesser law. It said if you have an adulterous relationship you should be put to death by your peers and by stoning, a possible long and slow form of death. If you are involved in premarital sex, and are a woman, you will be stoned. While that may not be the same doctrine we have today, it is the basis for current doctrine (see The Miracle of Forgiveness, and a talk by Richard G Scott in April conference, 1992). According to LDS theology you may be at fault for getting raped, or for somebody abusing you. Bull Shit. That is wrong. My actions cannot control another person’s choices and actions. We are responsible for our own actions. If a girl wears revealing clothes it is not an invitation to rape. She is only responsible for what she has chosen to wear. She is not responsible for the actions of another. If so then maybe the third Article of Faith should be changed to ‘We believe that man will be punished for their own sins, and the sins of others, but not for Adam’s transgression.’.
You are never at fault for somebody else's actions, unless you are a backwards bronze age tribe member. That’s not a lesser law. It’s a far worse, bronze age, sick and demented form of thinking. It’s the type of thinking that you would expect to come from back country rednecks, or middle east ancient goat herders, not an all knowing god. When I read these verses again I could not believe I had read this before and been fine with it. Maybe I didn't truly understand it? Maybe I was just reading to read, to say I had read it? I don't know for sure, but I could not believe that I once believed that this was fine, or OK because an all knowing god had commanded it. To be honest, while I had read it previously, I had never actually thought about it. The fact that the god of the Old Testament was a violent being was always taught, but I’d never actually thought about the specifics of it.
Do you give any kind of praise to Hitler for killing so many Jews? After all, the Torah itself explains that Yahweh used wicked people to fulfill his will in destroying the children of Israel when they disobeyed. Well, why do you give praise to Joshua or Moses for committing genocide? They killed, not just the men, but the teenagers, the women, the children, and the pregnant women. The unborn children. Why? Because they would expose the Israelites to gods other than Yahweh, and pervert his ways.
Let’s think about this. LDS doctrine says that children that die under the age of 8 (age of accountability) automatically go to the Celestial Kingdom. Even if the age was different back then, this still applies. So all of the children were so blessed because their parents were idolatrous, that they had to be killed to go to the Celestial Kingdom? What? Then why not let them live and help convert their parents to Yahweh? This is the type of stuff that Attila the Hun did. It’s sick, wrong, and should not ever be celebrated. The words to Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho may as well be "Joshua killed women and children in Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua killed women and children in Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down...". Biblical leaders receive praise from Christians and Jews alike because God commanded them to kill women, children, unborn children, the men, the animals, but sometimes not the virgins.
God commanded the Israelites to have slaves. To ENSLAVE human beings. He didn’t just condone it, he commanded it. He then commanded them to kill all the men, women, and children in some cities, but keep the virgin women alive, and keep the virgins for themselves. The first three of the Ten Commandments say worship me, but in all the Law of Moses there is nothing about not enslaving other human beings. If you think that ended with Jesus, think again. If it was wrong, and shouldn’t have been practiced, this truth could have and should have been restored with the restoration, not after the federal government threatened to remove the church’s non profit status.
I can go on, and on, and on, from selling your daughter as a slave is fine by Yahweh, to killing a slave is not murder unless they die the day you beat them, and having any physical defect, including damaged testicles, prevents you from being able to make sacrifice in the tabernacle, but you must perform genital mutilation on all boys. It’s backwards thinking. It’s not godly, it comes from a tribe of people trying to explain the world around them and maintain order. I got so far reading, couldn’t keep going straight and had to skip around, and just had to stop reading in the Old Testament. This wasn’t a lesser law, it was the law of bronze age Middle East goat herders. I moved on to the New Testament, and couldn’t get very far there either.
I took various online courses from many colleges, from many viewpoints regarding the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) and the New Testament. You can’t learn facts about them without completely doubting any veracity of them. If you want links to many of the things I've just explained just ask, and you shall receive.
I was discussing this with a friend. That friend said “Hey, it sounds like you just watched a bunch of youtube videos and are spewing out what you learned.”. Well, no. That didn’t happen until after I had read all of these things for myself, and thought about them for myself. I went to youtube and I was ecstatic to find I wasn't alone in my thoughts. There is an enormous world of people that have already come to the same understanding. There are the likes of Seth Andrews, the late Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, AronRa, Holy Koolaid, TellTale, DarkMatter, Mr. Deity, 43Alley, and so many more. I digress, so I'll keep going.
If Yahweh is god, then I really want nothing to do with him, and do not care about him, because he is one sick being. I don't know what you are thinking at this point. One person I spoke with said "But if you train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.". Well, when the punishment for leaving your faith is death, then yeah, he's probably not going to stray from it. It's a good way to exert power and control. As culture changed so did that law, as is evidenced from the New Testament itself. Well, that control still needs to be held. This is why the scriptures say things to the effect of if you deny the holy ghost you will be cast out or be in hell.
Culturally we do not accept the stoning of people for leaving their religion (neither do the mainstream Jews anymore, but it is still preferred in Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and other cultures that remain barberic). People in civilized areas cannot be scared with death for leaving their religion any more, so they must be scared with everlasting torture in order to keep them controlled. Just read the following.
D&C 84:40-41 40 Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.
41 But whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.
D&C 76:30-49 (I’m only pasting a couple verses) 34 Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come— 35 Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame. 36 These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels— 37 And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; 38 Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath.
Think about this for a minute. I am one of these people. All I have done is a thought crime, but am sentenced to eternal damnation for it. However, according to the doctrine of all Christianity, a person that is complete trash, that doesn’t ever repent of raping, yes raping, a baby, and continues to rape that baby for years, can still go to Heaven. In LDS theology that piece of garbage of a human being can go to the celestial kingdom if he repents. If he doesn’t he still goes to heaven. He still gets a degree of glory. All he has to do is say “Yes, I believe Jesus is the Christ”, and kind of repent. However, if he says “but I’m not willing to repent of my sins” then he suffers for 1000 years, and then still goes to the telestial kingdom. He still gets a degree of glory.
However, since I have said I do not believe it, nay, I cannot, I am damned for eternity, set to suffer in outer darkness with great wailing and gnashing of teeth. My crime is a crime of thought. It is victimless. I have never raised my voice, hand, or manly superiority against my wife. As an adult I have never hit another person with the intent to harm them. I have done all I could to help those around me, as evidenced by my story, to a fault. If somebody wants to tell me that what I have done is worse, and deserves a far worse punishment than the garbage that continually beats, tortures, or rapes thier child, please don’t. I do not deserve to be spoken to in that tone of voice, or in that language. If it turns out that I am wrong, and you are right, then I am glad for my choice. I would not want to be with such a deity. That deity withholds his knowledge or blessing from you until you ask in just the right way, with just the right faith. This is called sadism.
Every terrible trait that exists in murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and otherwise terrible human beings exist in Yahweh, and every reincarnation of him. That deity withholds physical and temporal blessings from young children dying of cancer. He withholds his blessing from children who suffer years and years of abuse. All so, what, his judgement can be just? So you could you look at Elizabeth Smart, or the 13 Turpin children, in the eyes and tell them that it’s OK that they were tortured and abused for so long, because it means God can punish their abusers? I could not do it.
It is not OK that they suffered. One time is too many. If it was so important for the Israelites to kill their neighbors rather than be indoctrinated by them, why is it so important for piece of shit human beings to be parents? Is it so the judgement against them is just? Does this mean that abusers cannot repent? If bad people are allowed to do bad things to the righteous so that god’s judgement is just, it is inferred that those people then cannot repent. If they are allowed to repent, then there was no reason for the abuse to go on and on, as no just judgement was necessary. There is no answer that is acceptable. I’ve thought about it long and hard, over many years. The worship of this god is wrong, and I cannot participate in it anymore.
You may say “But I didn’t gain my testimony about Jesus or the church through the Old Testament….”. Remember, Christianity is a sect of Judaism. It is based on the same belief that the Jews, and all Israelites, believed. It is based on the Law of Moses. It is based on bronze aged thinking, and while I too did not gain the testimony I once had by reading the Old Testament, it sure helped me realize the fallacy of the belief.
So, who am I, where am I, and what will I do with my life. Well, you can get a glimpse in this post.
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