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Debunking the
Arguments of Christian Fundamentalists and Evangelists
Conclusion
Thank you for reading my treatise. Based on all
that I have presented here, I believe that I have made a conclusive case for
the following.
1) The Bible is not infallible and inerrant. It
contains huge internal discrepancies and contradictions, scientific and
historical errors, unfulfilled and failed prophecies, atrocities by God and his
followers too barbaric and monstrous to be of an all-loving all-wise deity, and
other errors that make it obviously the creation of fallible imperfect
humans. Even if the people in the Bible did encounter God or a divine
deity, at best it only represents their interpretation of God.
2) Christianity’s theology, doctrines, and dogmas evolved
over time with the people and society who shaped and influenced it. They
were not a direct divine revelation from God that has been the same for all
time.
Therefore, based on the above two conclusions, I also
conclude the following.
3) The teaching that we are all sinners and going to
hell unless we believe that Jesus died for us is a technically false teaching
contrived by humans, not by God.
4) The Bible is not the ultimate authority on
truth that we must all submit to. It is not the sole representative of
God’s word, will and message to mankind. It is not the only way to God or
to true wholesome spirituality, and neither is Jesus.
To see some short pamphlets and letters that make
similar arguments to my article in a more condensed form see:
A Lawyer's Open Letter to Dr. Billy Graham - (and
Christian fundamentalists)
http://www.victorzammit.com/articles/billygraham.html
Dennis McKinsey's pamphlets
http://members.aol.com/ckbloomfld/pamphlets.html
Reasons not to believe
http://quinnell.us/religion/reasons/index.html
The most comprehensive and well-organized index list
in a pleasant appearance, containing links to arguments exposing fundamentalist
Christianity, Born
Again Fundamentalist Christianity Exposed Links Page, can be found
here: http://www.anzwers.org/free/jesuschrist/links.html
And for some short but deep musings in layman’s terms
from an Ex-Christian, see his mini-articles at: http://www.geocities.com/fuzzyquark/christian_index.html
Now, I realize that to some my arguments and
statements in this treatise may sound a bit one-sided. Therefore, I want to
clarify that I am not arguing that everything in the Bible is completely false
and worthless. I never advocate black and white thinking of any
kind. Unlike fundamentalist Christians, I do not see it as being all
trustworthy or all false. On the contrary, I do not believe that the
Bible can be described or summed up with just one statement or idea. I do
not even see it as one book, since it is composed of 66 books by over 40
different authors from different times and places. Therefore, there is
too much complexity for generalization. Each portion of it should be
addressed separately to get into any detailed discussion about it.
If I was to take the Bible as a whole though, I would
say that I believe it contains many words of wisdom, preaches high morality,
courageous tales and fables, and parables with a good lesson. However, it
also contains savage laws, barbaric ways, immoral atrocities, closed-minded
narrow viewpoints, extreme teachings, and other flaws. Such is to be
expected from a book written by humans. The book basically represents
human nature throughout history, demonstrating the best and the worst of
it. And it can be appreciated that way. One does not have to
believe in the doctrine of inerrancy to appreciate the Bible. In fact, I
think that every good book or religion contributes to our understanding of
human nature and reality. Therefore, we do not need to have any dogmatic
or fundamentalist views about any book or belief system. I believe that
all literary works and religions have value. They show the process of
humanity’s quest to understand themselves, their purpose in life, and their
search for meaning.
This does not mean though, that just because a book
represents human nature, that there is nothing divine about it. On the
contrary, I believe that one facet of human nature is our spiritual nature,
which connects us to a cosmic consciousness or mystical reality that is beyond
words, which can be personal or impersonal. And this aspect of our
spiritual human nature has manifested in the Bible through its spiritual
teachings and wisdom as well, which is why the religious people who follow it
have been known to have spiritual or divine experiences. And furthermore,
I don’t deny the possibility that the Bible writers or the figures in its
stories may have indeed had encounters with God or a divine entity.
However, at best that would still only represent man’s interpretation of his
encounter with God. The mistakes, fallacies, and savage nature of
much of it attests to that. Personally, I think that’s the best and most
accurate way to view the Bible.
Throughout time, things have been in a constant state
of flux and change. All of us, along with everything that exists, are
evolving in some unknown direction for some unknown reason. In that
sense, the Bible can be seen as a stepping stone in one’s path of spiritual
evolution. For those new to religion/spirituality, the structure that the
dogmas and creeds of organized religion provide may be what they need.
They do so by organizing the nature of divine realities into simpler terms for
them to understand. However, we do not need to limit ourselves to the
teaching of any organized religion. Organized religion should be a path
or stepping stone, not a limit or cap on spiritual growth or discoveries.
It is not an end point, but a path to get us started on a journey. That
is why no one organized religion suits everyone. Such is simply not
possible.
However, organized religion tends to be a double-edged
sword. On the one hand, it unifies groups of people who share the same
beliefs. And as we all know, collective entities are more powerful in
achieving their objectives than single entities. In other words, in
certain conditions, people are stronger as a group than as individuals.
It also gives some people the structure they need to be religious or spiritual,
in terms they can understand. Since some are at a stage where they need
that, I therefore do not condemn them for it, since I myself was at that stage
before too. That is one reason why I said I do not expect this treatise
to persuade the devout happy Christian believer to change his/her beliefs (not
that it would anyway). However, it may help those in transition, wanting
to evolve further but not sure how, or those wishing to leave their dogmatic
faith but too fearful to do so, as well as researchers and truth-seekers who
wish to know the arguments against Christian fundamentalist teaching.
But on the other hand, organized religion has some
downsides as well. It tends to oversimplify spirituality and close
people’s minds into a set system of dogmas and doctrines. Also, it tends
to make their follower’s spiritual lives more about conforming with the beliefs
of the church or group, rather than on each person finding his/her own
spiritual path. And of course, in every organization there are always
politics and egos that come into play.
We are all each at different stages and types of
evolution levels, but in order to get along we must all respect each other’s beliefs.
However, some religions such as Christian fundamentalism make that difficult
due to their extreme teachings/doctrines, claim to exclusivity, and intolerance
of other religions and belief systems. And that is the problem that
non-Christians often have with devout believers. However, each religion
has its pros and cons, and as mentioned before, Christianity can give one a
strong sense of purpose, structure, and confidence, while closing that person’s
mind substantially, instigating fanatical beliefs in them, and even going so
far as making them deny themselves. Its extreme nature is one reason why
Christianity tends to be so controversial, and why it tends to make people
either love it or hate it. It can be one’s best friend or worst enemy.
It has brought out the best in people (strong family values, missionaries,
charities, humanitarian relief projects, changed lives, etc.) and the worst as
well (inspired violent fanatical acts, inspired religious wars, closed people’s
minds, etc.)
I happen to believe that everything happens for a
reason. Therefore, Christianity has been a part of world history for a
reason. Just what that reason is can be pondered about, and everyone will
see it differently, but perhaps the real reasons cannot be answered with mere
words. And neither can the question of why we’re here, or the meaning of
existence. Most of us will never find the ultimate answers to those
questions, although some claim they have. Perhaps there are no ultimate
answers, at least not ones that can explain everything to everyone’s
satisfaction. And I believe that’s because if there are true complete
answers to life’s mysteries, they cannot be put into words. Sometimes
though, they can be experienced, but not intellectualized for mental understanding.
Just as the system of math or algebra cannot be comprehended by a dog, in the
same way the true answers to life’s mysteries are beyond intellectual
understanding. And we should understand and accept that. However,
even the Bible says “Seek and ye shall find”, which has some truth to it.
Those who fervently seek the truth do tend to find it in some form or another,
in a way that’s meaningful to them, though not necessarily to others.
That’s why the answers can be different for everyone.
To be fair here, I do acknowledge that based on the
evidence from Christian testimonies, answered prayers, miracles, etc. I would
conclude that yes there is something supernatural going on here in regards to
their faith. However, just because there is some supernatural force or
power behind it, doesn’t mean that all other beliefs and religions are false,
don’t lead to God, and are of Satan and lead to hell, for there are
supernatural things going on in other religions and spiritual practices as
well. That is what Fundamentalist Christians don’t get.
Now, you may be wondering where my spiritual path has
led me after my deconversion from Evangelical Christianity, and whether I am
better off now as a result of it. Well I will share with you some
relevant parts from my testimonial story My Rise to Christianity
and My Transcendence From It and let you decide.
http://www.happierabroad.com/Christian_Story.htm
“After summer, I started community college. It was there that I learned a lot about the world that I didn't know before, its diversity, different cultures and beliefs, different viewpoints and opinions from great people throughout history from the past up to the modern era, etc. At this point I started seeing the world from a whole new perspective which helped me appreciate life even more. No longer did I see the world as a world of sin and darkness as I had been taught. No longer did I see the world as a giant dungeon where everyone was enslaved and chained up by sin, darkness, Satan and demons. Instead, I saw the world as a rich beautiful diverse place with its own problems and challenges to work through over time. I saw that each unique person in the world was on a path to evolve which included challenges and lessons to be learned. I realized that it was wrong to try to convert someone from that path, and that it was best to let people grow, learn and evolve on their own path and find their own destiny.
But what about finding the answers about the truth of
God and religion? I wasn't sure where to begin. I knew that each
religion claimed to have the truth and that they disagreed with each other on
many things, so they couldn't all be right could they? But how would I know
which religion was true and which wasn't? I thought there was no way to
really find out until after you die. So I just became an agnostic and
left it at that for a while. But eventually, I believed that if there
were answers out there, then there must be some way to find them. I
wasn't satisfied with being an agnostic and dropping the issue for good, so I
decided to search again. It was then that I found some New Age
spirituality books that had caught my attention. I had remembered that a
few years ago my Youth Pastor had warned of the dangers of the teachings of the
New Age movement. I had no idea what it even was at that time, but now I
was curious. Maybe it would show me something that the traditional
organized religions didn't. Fortunately, it did. Many of the
concepts made so much sense to me and showed me the big picture. It was
like it borrowed all the truths from each religion and put it into a giant
wheel that represented the total sum of cosmic divine truth. That was it,
I thought! Each religion represented a different aspect of the truth, and
when you put them all together you get a better view of the whole
picture! Bingo! This was the answer I was looking for. Now I
understood what that secular adage meant that said that all religions are
different interpretations of the same God. Before I thought that was just
a cop out, now I understood how much sense it made. The reason that the
great religions contradicted each other were due to the differences in man's interpretations
of the divine, not the fault of the divine. In fact, the more I learned
about each religion, the more parallels I could see between them. The
same underlying themes seemed prevalent and all pointed in the same
direction. I also learned that since religion was man's interpretation of
God, that God didn't really fit into any organized religion, but was far beyond
the limitations that they imposed on him.
For the next few years, little by little I gradually
developed the courage to read books with ideas from other religions and New Age
beliefs as well. For a while, each time I picked up one of these books,
the words "Satan" and "blasphemy" would come to mind, but I
as I learned more and became more confident in my new knowledge, those fears
lessened and eventually diminished. One day, I found another profound
answer to what I was looking for. I saw a quote in a book that said
"The more and more you look at the universe, it appears less like a great
machine and more like a great thought." That's it I thought!
We don't have to look for God out there in some abstract place. We are
all a part of God. We are all like atoms and molecules in the large
organism we call God. Like each atom and molecule in our body, we each
serve a higher purpose that we aren't aware of yet. This made even more
sense to me as I realized that everything in the universe seemed to be made up
of something revolving around something else. For example, in an atom
there are protons and electrons orbiting a nucleus. Likewise, on a
planetary scale, moons revolve around planets. On a larger scale, planets
revolve around suns. From an even larger scale, suns and stars revolve
around the center of each galaxy. So if we are all made up of atoms which
contain things orbiting around each other, then maybe suns, stars, and galaxies
are also like atoms which make up a larger whole we call God! I
envisioned that everything in the universe was like valuable parts of the
inside of an intricate clock, each part was valuable, unique, and served its
own purpose. We just don't always see or realize that purpose unless we
reach higher states of being and consciousness. At the time, I thought I
was the only one who came to the conclusion that God was the totality of
everything. Soon though, I realized that I wasn't and that others
searching for truth had discovered the same thing, and that this view of God in
fact had two terms for it. One was "Pantheism" and the other
was "Monism."
I also discovered that we could all find God and
divinity in ourselves just by tapping into our higher selves and higher states
of consciousness. It was like we were Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz who
discovered that she had the power to return home the whole time because she had
already been wearing those red magical shoes the whole time. Likewise, we
could find God and the divinity within ourselves by just simply going within.
Finally, I discovered that many great great mystics
and seekers of truth throughout history and in our modern era have come to the
same conclusions that I came to as well. This said to me that there must
be something to my discoveries after all! From their books and books
written about them, I discovered very similar themes. These themes reveal
that we are all souls from higher levels which have decided to come down to
Earth to learn lessons and grow. We do this by either continuously
reincarnating here or in other worlds or other planes of existence until we
learn the lessons we need. As we learn, grow and evolve, we reach higher
levels of consciousness, which allow us to enter higher heavenly realms.
Some call these higher realms Heaven. Others call them Nirvana, Astral
Planes, or Re-unification with God. There are different levels of these
higher heavenly realms, and between 7 and 10 are named. In addition, I
learned that millions of people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDE's) and
Out of Body Experiences (OBE's) have had these same higher truths and themes
revealed to them during their experiences. All this told me that there
must be something to these themes if people from all over the world had the
same things revealed to them somehow……………
There was another benefit to all this as well.
Because of all these discoveries along with my new views of God and
spirituality, I realized that my parents and relatives weren't going to hell
after all! This lifted a huge burden off me and gave me peace of
mind. In a way, I had saved my parents and relatives from going to hell
just by realizing that they weren't going in the first place! My parents
had been right all along that I didn't have to convert them or any of my
relatives. All I had to do was appreciate where they are, because they
were already where God wanted them to be. I now had peace of mind to move
on and discover my own potential. I was free now to explore the limitless
possibilities of life, knowledge, mind, philosophy, spirituality, etc. A
whole new adventure was just beginning.”
If you want a spiritual life or God in your life
without religion
Now, if you still hunger for a spiritual life, or
fellowship with God, without having to subscribe to fundamentalist religions, I
suggest starting with these books:
· The
Power of Now and A
New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
· Way
of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
· Any book or audio by Wayne
Dyer
· The
Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot
· Under the Tree
by Greg Stone.
The books above are my favorite and have enriched and
enlightened my mind to true spirituality.
Basically, you CAN have a spiritual life without
organized religion. You just have to
find it and recognize that, as Wayne Dyer likes to say, “you are not a human being having a spiritual experience, but a
spiritual being having a human experience.”
And the other good news is that you CAN have God in your life without
religion. You can have the same faith
that the Christians do, and still receive the divine help, power, miracles,
etc. that they get from their faith, without subscribing to their religious
tenets or doctrines. Many do, and are
able to access the same help from the same divine power as religious people do,
for God works through many ways, not just religion. But first, you have to find out who you
really are, and who God is first. The
books above will point you the right way.
An Indian American gave me this enlightening summary
of his view of “God”, which accurately reflects my conclusions as well:
“Winston,
here is my view on God:
I am of the conviction that there is a God, but that God works in ways that are
beyond human logic and description. Whether he is personal or impersonal, in us
our outside of us, again, he is beyond human understanding. In fact, one does
not really have to call it God: names like the Absolute Truth, Tao or
Supreme Undescribable Force will do fine.
I welcome all religions, because I think they are the closest possible relative
descriptions of the Absolute that we can have. Therefore, I regard all the
major religions as the greatest, most inspirational source of life's wisdom
that can ever be provided.
But again, the keyword here is relative, and the religions are still that -
they cannot be Absolute. Friction and violence occurs when a member of a
religion thinks their religion is the Absolute, or in other words, when they
think their beliefs are the most complete description of the Undescribable. And
on top of that, many such people think their beliefs are the ONLY way. This is
the prime recipe for friction between two or more sets of relative beliefs.
Well that is my take...if you find anything worthwhile here, you may feel free
to quote me on any blog or video.
Thanks,
Vik”
For recovering fundamentalists, the mystical or New
Age path changes their understanding of Christianity drastically. For
example, a yoga mystic on my own email list named Faith (yes that’s her real
name) had this to say regarding her new perspective of Christianity after
undergoing cosmic unifying experiences which expanded her level of
consciousness: (in her original purple text color)
“OK Win... for what it's worth........
I would just say that.... on the
topic of Christianity and the Bible .... That it is rather ironic
that ALL (dualistic) Christians , those who do NOT see
God in and AS all things and all Beings) (those who are still in
judgment mode.. as in... they see OTHER where no OTHER actually
exists..... have no idea as to the true GREATNESS of Jesus or what
it really means ULTIMATELY to Be in Christ Consciousness and what the
Christ really Offers and will bestow upon them at some point in their
existence. Jesus was NOT just about getting into
Heaven. THAT is only part one.
This information cannot be known
intellectually but instead one must come to via direct Transcendent
revelation which is the GREATEST Gift of Grace.
To KNOW the Christ
Consciousness one MUST become ONE with the Christ Consciousness. THIS was
Jesus' GREATEST gift. To make US ONE WITH himself. Not just about
getting into heaven for an eternal Life but to become ONE WITH .. in
every way... the actual SOURCE.. The Supreme unchanging Reality.
This can only sound heretical
until one Transcends to this Supreme Truth which only Grace can reveal.
Too bad so many judgmental early Christians tortured many who were actually in
Christ Consciousness themselves. They did not, and still do not
understand what is meant by 'The ONE and the Way'.
This Supreme Transcendent
Knowledge is known within ALL spiritual traditions. It does not
belong exclusively to the Christian perspective . The Jews
have It, (Cabalists) the Moslems have It, (Sufis) the Hindus have
It (Vedanta / Kashmir Shaivism)... AND the Christians have It....
Gnosticism .... this IT.. is the Supreme UNCHANGING Truth.
Yes, Jesus was a Grace Bestower.... he was ONE with the "Christ" or
"
So.. Yes, Jesus was indeed One
with God, and although rare, this state is not QUITE so rare as the
Christian religions might have us believe.
God .. or The Supreme Christ
Consciousness is UNLIMITED and can manifest when and as IT chooses, through
whomever IT chooses. Jesus was/is not the ONLY Pure
ONE. The Christ has ALWAYS manifest for humanity.
Sometimes revealed... sometimes not.
One can THINK they
"know"... but that thinking will not be real knowing.
When "God" realllllly wants us to KNOW.. we KNOW and there is no
belief and no THINKING involved. AND it cannot be SHARED verbally with
those NOT in this state of Grace. IT is Transcendent
Knowledge.. beyond the mind's ability to reason. IF.... one THINKS
that they can relate this divine reality via words.. then know that they do not
know.
PS... though some of
Jesus' disciples knew the supreme Truth.. they did not all grasp his HIGHEST
teachings.
btw People who think the Gnostics
are heretics are quite ignorant of Jesus’ highest
lesson.
AND lastly... even
though it is most likely that some of the Disciples did write from a State
of
Peace, FR”
Erik, a reader of my deconversion story, wrote me
these comments below about how he felt after leaving the faith:
“After that day I started looking at the bible with a
much more open mind. I no longer had that assurance that it is truth, or
that I had the only true path to God. Some people have shared this with
have expected this to be a very negative period in my life. After all I
was losing what was the foundation to my life. In reality it was anything
but that. For the first time in years I felt free. I could ask all
the questions I had always passed over, I was looking at life in a much more
open minded way. In time instead of seeing everything in black and white,
instead of seeing Christianity as right and all other religions and beliefs as
wrong I began to see the world in a very new light, as a place of diversity and
colour. A place where people with such a rich variety of cultures and
lifestyles all add up to make the world a much more interesting and better
place than it was for me when I was a Christian. Gradually I began to
look at other peoples beliefs and was amazed that they have so much in common
with my old Christian beliefs (moral values, self improvement, peace, spiritual
fulfillment).”
Apparently, such post-fundamentalist feelings like
Erik and mine are quite common. Ed Babinski, who wrote a book chronicling
testimonies of former fundamentalists called Leaving the
Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists, noted a pattern among
the deconverts in their new founded sense of freedom after their gradual
deconversion. He notes on his site regarding his book:
http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/controversial_book.html
“Once you have read all the testimonies, certain
threads linking them together become apparent: the dilemmas and fears each
person faced in leaving fundamentalism behind; their gradually dawning courage
to ask crucial critical questions, and to continue asking more questions; their
discovery of how wonderful it can be to allow one's innate curiosity the
freedom it craves; and the blossoming of their distinctive personalities and
beliefs.”
For now though, I suggest that we open ourselves up to
consider new possibilities and paradigms that may not fit our views. That
is not to say though, that we should believe and accept every crazy or
dangerous idea in the world. But rather, find the degree of truth in
contrary ideas rather than reject or accept them as a whole. After all,
rarely is anything ever 100 percent false. Most things have some degree
of truth in them, and they usually at least point to something meaningful.
By doing this, we develop a broader view of our lives and of reality. The
benefit of having a broader viewpoint is that you start to take things less
personally, your problems less seriously, and you don’t tend to overreact as
much to little things that won’t matter a few days from now. And also of
course, you appreciate more things in life and have a richer more rewarding
inner life as well.
We are never too old to learn new things. Life,
learning, and personal growth is a process. Therein lies the beauty of
it. As the saying goes, life is a journey, not a destination.
Therefore, the process is more interesting and rewarding than the end
result. Let me close now with a few quotes that illustrate this.
"Let the mind be enlarged... to the grandeur of
the mysteries, and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of the
mind" - Francis Bacon
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is
because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." - Mark
Twain
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is
the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." - Albert
Einstein
Thank you for reading my article. May you learn
to love and accept yourself. And I wish you will discover the best parts
of yourself and make them bloom.
Sincerely,
Winston Wu
Comments can be sent to me at WWu777us@yahoo.com.
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Appendix
A: My Summary Response to Two Christian Missionaries
Appendix
B: Mystic FaithRada Comments on My Summary Response
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