Dollar Store Bibles

Sheeeet, they even sell Bibles at the dollar store beside my house! I'd like to see someone publish cheap or free Freethinking books for the masses, just like Joseph L. Lewis and also Emanuel Haldeman-Julius and son's Little Blue Books on a variety of topics from a non-religious ethical perspective.

Cheers,

Bjarte

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

I am still reading Ehrman´s book on suffering, God´s Problem. I remember so many Marvel superhero movies, and even the cartoon ¨The Incredibles¨, where the hero cannot sleep at night while hearing screams outside his or her door. As they said, ¨With great power comes great responsibility¨. 

Ehrman´s point is the same as the Greek philosopher Epicurus´ [341–270 BCE]: 

¨Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?¨ 

I could not agree more! Maybe the Deists had a good point!

Cheers,

Bjarte

The Struggle of an Ex-Prayer Warrior

 

This is my struggle: is there really "someone out there" who hears my prayers, or am I talking to an imaginary friend?  My brain is telling me the latter, but my heart seems to want to find some external "being" to communicate with.  

Recently, Tanya Luhrmann, a psychological anthropologist and a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University, did a 2 year field study of the Vineyard Movement, which shares a lot in common with other Evangelical Christians trying to "hear from God".  Her results are in When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God (2012).  

Luhrmann's website states: 

"How does God become and remain real for modern evangelicals? How are rational, sensible people of faith able to experience the presence of a powerful yet invisible being and sustain that belief in an environment of overwhelming skepticism? T. M. Luhrmann, an anthropologist trained in psychology and the acclaimed author of Of Two Minds, explores the extraordinary process that leads some believers to a place where God is profoundly real and his voice can be heard amid the clutter of everyday thoughts." (http://luhrmann.net/).  

This is a similar background to where I'm coming from, and it's hard to break the "practicing the presence of God" (à la Brother Lawrence) that I got accustomed to.

Lots to adjust to . . . 

Cheers,


Bjarte

I Woke Up Praying Today

 

I woke up praying today. I used to be a hardcore Evangelical Christian for 30+ years, until recently. I caught myself and thought, "Who the hell am I praying to? I'm not supposed to believe in God!" Then I replied to myself, "Just do whatever you want. You are a rebel by nature. So you can even revolt against your own new found atheism sometimes." Anyways, after reading books on Atheism, Agnosticism, Freethought, Humanism, etc, I found they have many good points, but honestly, it doesn't cover all the necessary issues of life and spiritual needs. OTOH, I'm so wary of New Age & the Human Potential movements with Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Dalai Lama et al. I want my life to follow REALITY, not everyone's "visions", "revelations", and other various sundrious ridiculousnesses. 

Looks like this spiritual journey is going to take a lot of time and effort ; ) . . .

Cheers,

Bjarte

The Spiritual Journey Is Dangerous

Wow!

At this point in life, the spiritual journey looks like a mine field.  I have recently left Evangelical Christianity along with Biblical Literalism for many reasons: the history of Christian hatred in a religion that supposedly preaches love, gross errors and contradictions in the Bible which I had either glossed over or ignored, leading my life down many unnecessary dead ends, causing friction with unbelievers, and sheer boredom of thinking a bunch of narrow-minded authorities had THE answer to my questions.  Now that that´s over, I´ve embarked on a new journey, exploring various writings on Atheism, Agnosticism, Freethinking, Skepticism and Naturalist Pantheism.  

I don´t know if this is an irrational fear, but I´m very nervous about jumping ¨from the frying pan into the fire¨, i.e., getting involved in an equally or more ridiculous religious philosophy.  With all their attractions, the down side of Atheism is that it only solves half the problem: that the Christian god doesn´t exist.  Yeah, so what?  And what next?  Where do I go in figuring out moral questions?  What is now the ultimate base for the existence of humanity and the rest of the cosmos?  Where do I direct my spiritual seeking energies without going down the rabbit hole of superstition again?  And frankly, the New Atheists often look as scary to me as the Old Fundamentalists of Christendom.  They make a blanket statement that ALL religion is THE problem of humanity, when there are so many problems, for example, Money Worship, disdain for the natural environment, Western imperialism, etc.  Secularists are just as ¨good¨ at abusing nature and fellow humans as the religiosos are.

Agnosticism looks appealing in that it humbly admits, as Socrates did, that ¨I know that I don´t know¨.  On the other hand, in its wishy-washiness, Agnosticism does not have that critical edge of being able to assess religions, superstitions and truth claims.  While I believe that we´ll never really know full truth, at least we can know enough to make important decisions about life. Agnosticism almost becomes an excuse for laziness. Or, worse, Agnostics stand back while watching the religious make really stupid mistakes, fearful of speaking out, and actually having no basis to do so.

Natural Pantheism, which Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion called a ¨Sexed-Up Atheism¨, is a reverence for Nature, seeing it as divine-like. Classical Pantheists actually believe that the universe IS God, but Natural Pantheists give no personality or force-like characteristics to nature. Instead, Nature is the basis of existence, and should be honoured as such. There is no belief in spirits, or another parallel world, as in Gnosticism. This is it, what you and I see, feel, smell, taste and hear.

I´ve been attracted to Natural Pantheism recently and admired some of the articles online. However, there is a fine line here: it appears very easy for a NP to slide down the slippery slope of the metaphysics of other religions the ¨New Age¨ or the Human Potential Movement. Frankly, I´m not interested in crystals, seances, channeling, out-of-body experiences, guardian angels, manifesting, controlling the Force or Qi or Manna, or any other ridiculousness. In fact, I will join the Skeptics in publically critiquing this crap which passes for spirituality. Nor am I curious about reincarnation, resurrection, Heaven or Hell, hearing voices, healing and miracles, etc.

In addition, the REAL religions that dominate our society go under other names: Capitalism, i.e., Money-Worship, Techno-Worship, Progress, etc. Basically it´s the ¨American Dream¨ which has sucked in the entire planet. Yes, this is really a religion. Money, technology and progress seem to promise us limitlessness. We can have what we want, when we want. New technologies, as Marshall McLuhan once said, overcome our physical restrictions, that is, they extend our faculties. Cars are extensions of our feet. Phones extend our voices. Google endows us with omniscient-like qualities, the ability to ¨know all¨. These forms of belief and action are in fact even more dangerous that formal religions or New Age. Altogether, both the money-worshipping secularists and their religious counterparts are destroying nature as they continue to expand the Western Empire not only geographically, but to every sphere of human existence.

Any spirituality that´s worth its salt will oppose Empire and provide alternatives. This is the part I have rarely seen. Most religions, philosophies and spiritualities, including New Atheism, seem to also support money-making and techno-worship. However, to me, true spirituality would do no harm to the environment that sustains us. Nor harm to other humans.  Truth opposes the deceit of capitalism and its twin offspring of science and technology.

While I´m all for the scientific method, and for scientific explanations of the universe, most of what science has been used for is to rape Mother Nature and increase the stock prices of the capitalists. This is something the New Atheists need to answer, instead of limiting their critiques to easy targets. And the rest of us need to find a spirituality that honours the universe without falling into superstition and cult-like tendencies. And at the same time defend nature and humans from the continued onslaught of the capitalists who screw the planet with impunity.

Back to my main idea: spirituality is dangerous. On the one hand, you could slip down one side of the slope into superstition and creepy rituals. With all your friends pushing the writings of Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, etc, and the innumerable flakey New Agers who are ready to take your reverencing of Mother Nature and pull you down into strange superstitious practices. I was thinking of starting a Naturalist Pantheist group in my neighbourhood, but the fear of the flakes coming out of the woodwork and hijacking any effort I make discourages me at times. On the other hand, the other slippery slope is to forget spirituality, to abandon Mother Nature and just live for the same empty values as the rest of society, bowing at the altar of money and technology. Or to simply join the Freethinkers and Skeptics who spend their time sitting on their asses and scolding the religiosos, which equally appears to be a waste of time and energy.

What to do? I´m the kind of person who, like Will and Jaden Smith´s characters in the recent movie After Earth, face and eradicate my fears. And boldly moves ahead. To face off against the Money, Technology and Progress (MTP) Worshippers, the religiosos and the New Age flakes, and the divisive, troublemaking extremists in the Green and Social Justice Movements. And to seek a spirituality that respects Mother Nature, upholds a set of ethics that far surpasses the Evangelical Christians, and works toward the Common Good.

Time to dream on . . . and get moving.

Cheers,

Bjarte

Email me at 

harvisenATgmail.com

An Out-of-Fishbowl Look at Christianity

Christian Church's Stained Glass Ceiling - Toronto, Canada

Because I've spent a lot of time working overseas and also hanging with immigrants and indigenous peoples, the idea hit me:

Why is it that the entire planet has to follow the culture (Western) and religion (Christianity) of history's greatest empire, the Anglo-American one?

Doesn't it just show that British, American and other European imperialism was entirely successful? 

I mean, think about it, everyone worldwide is expected to use Western technology, food, business methods, economic and political structures, social mores, family patterns, and now, even religion? 

Becoming Christian in today's world = becoming Westernised = becoming cool, educated, civilised, tech savvy, etc. 

In my neck of the woods, most Chinese and Koreans convert to Christianity, I believe, because they're "betting on the winning horse".  Is it by coincidence that the One Way to get to Heaven is via the faith held by Westerners?  Not only have we dominated this life, but we also claim a monopoly on the one to come!
And how is it that a small tribal religion of a bunch of diaspora Jews became the faith of the Roman Empire, and later the British and American (and other European) Empires?  One thing is for certain: Christianity has proven itself to be a very, very useful tool in the hands of imperialists!

Isn't it also very strange that the faith of one small ethnic group, the Jews, was co-opted by their neighbours, morphed into Christianity, then everyone blamed the Jews for rejecting the new, hybrid religion which bore very little resemblance to their original Judaism?  Why do we Gentiles think we know the identity of the true Jewish Messiah than the Jews themselves?  Isn't it ironic?  It's like God revealing himself to the Irish, then the Brits and everyone steal their religion, transform it into something entirely new, then blame, persecute and kill the Irish for not accepting the bastardised version of their original faith? 

The more I look at Christianity in the Big Picture, the stranger it gets!

Crap, maybe I'm just a Conspiracy Theorist . . .

Cheers,

Bjarte

E-mail me at
harvisen AT gmail.com

Make Nature, Not Science, Your ¨Religion¨

Outside Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, while on our honeymoon

I just noticed a pic on Facebook:

My question about this is: Shouldn´t all of us also be skeptical about science?  After all, most scientists are paid for by huge American and other Western corporations.  Therefore, their research is biased toward what will make money for the corporation and their stockholders.  ¨Independent¨ science is a myth.  

Better to make Nature our ¨religion¨.  At least Nature is observable and can tell us about the nature of reality.  While we may not have all the money scientists have at their disposal to do high-level research, at least we can understand reality more to some extent through our observation and experience.  

While I´m all for the Scientist Method, we have to be rich to use it effectively.  And if we simply believe the published research of scientists, we are putting our faith in people who claim to be ¨experts¨, and who may be intentionally or unintentionally deceiving people.  For example, I have seen environmental destruction all over the US, Canada and China.  My own observation ¨warms¨ up my mind to accept the scientific findings regarding Climate Change and predictions of increasing ecologically crises.  

As some people here in Vancouver, BC, Unceded Salish Territories, used to say on their bumper stickers, while ironically polluting Mother Earth with their fricking vehicles: ¨Nature is my Church¨.  She´s mine too, but at the same time, I´m not going to adopt a bunch of superstitious beliefs and rituals from New Age gurus and anyone else, usually trying to make a buck off spirituality!  I remain agnostic on God/the gods and the claims of all religions.  And yet, I´m always seeking, seeking, seeking ; )

Cheers,

Bjarte Harvisen

Drop me a line at

harvisen AT gmail.com

The Wild Wall outside of Beijing, China

My Blogging Strategy

In my previous blog ¨Sleepless In Turtle Island¨ on both Blogger and Wordpress, I ended up getting 1000s and 1000s of hits.  However, one thing bothered me: when I checked out my Stats sections, it seems that most people were simply Googling the cool pics I had stolen from other sites I had found through Google.  This was going against my goal of people actually reading my stuff.  So, in my present series of blogs, I´m making an effort to only upload photos that I have taken myself.  So, my theory is, at least the page hits will be because people are consuming and hopefully enjoying the content I´ve written.  We will see how it goes . . . 

Cheers,

Bjarte Harvisen

E-mail me at 

harvisen AT gmail DOT com

The ¨Wild¨ Wall outside of Beijing, bordering on Hebei province, China
late winter 2006, I think.  Check it out if you have a chance!

Growing Pains of a Born Again Ex-Christian Agnostic

Moving from over three decades of Evangelical Christian living to a new paradigm is not the easiest thing to do.  It's like becoming an expatriate in a foreign country.  Everything is new:

Therefore if anyone is no longer "in Christ", he or she is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. [my re-mastering of 2 Corinthians 5:17]

Yes, the times are exciting, much like a newborn entering the world. 

But like a new baby, there are many growing pains.  Here are a few:

1. I still pray as if by habit:

I guess there is nothing wrong with that, but the problem is, whereas before I clearly addressed God as:

Dear Father in Heaven

And now I go:

Whoever you are out there, whether one god or many, or maybe a Great Force, or . . . perhaps I'm just talking to myself . . . ah, what do I do with all my free time now???

It gets confusing sometimes.  It must go with the territory.  I'll probably get rid of this praying habit after awhile.  Or maybe keep it, just to make myself feel good.  Shhhh, please don't tell the other agnostics and atheists ; )

2. I get lonely sometimes:

Striking out on your own after 32+ years as an Evangelical Christian requires courage, a sense of adventure, and perhaps a little bit of craziness.  Leaving one's comfort zone is, well . . . uncomfortable.  And admittedly, I get lonely sometimes.  I mean, before, I imagined that God is always with me.  And there were all these Christias around me with whom I could have "sweet fellowship". 

Now, where I live in Surrey, BC, Canada, Unceded Coastal Salish Territorities, it seems everywhere I turn there are Christians.  Or maybe it's like when you buy a Honda Civic, you notice all the other Honda Civics on the road.  Now it's like I can't escape them, when I'd much prefer meeting some freethinkers and agnostics.  Maybe my Christian friends have a voodoo doll in my likeness, and are sticking pins into it.   Or perhaps they are siccing the Holy Ghost, whom some call the "Hound of Heaven", on me . . .

Anyways, as long as you don't tell anyone, maybe I'll start praying to the gods of my Norwegian ancestors when I'm feeling a void in my heart:

Thor? . . . .Odin? . . . . are you out there?  Can you hear me?  I've given up on the Hebrew God who got hijacked by the apostle Paul and later the Roman Empire.  Will you take me back into your loving arms? 

Ouch!  Shit!  Please watch where you're throwing that lightning bolt!

3. I need to find a new basis of ethics
 
In my former life, I did everything, at least in principle if not in reality, according to the "inerrant" (error-free) Word of God contained in the 66 books of the Christian Bible.  Now I have to find a new justification for not cheating on my wife, not robbing a bank, not lying, not raising up an army to rid Canada of its god-damned neo-conservative politicians and their supporters, etc.

Not easy to find out this new basis of ethics, but it's doable.  Maybe we can call my whole process "detox" or "de-brainwashing".  Now, granted, there are parts of the Bible that I would still like to plagarise, such as "love your neighbour as yourself" and "put others above yourself".  The questionable parts, such as "submit to those in authority in all things", "trust in the Lord Jesus" and "all whose names are not in the Book of Life were thrown into the Lake of Fire", I will reject.  But why not consult the wisdom of every possible religion and philosophy, while reading the books of scientists and other thinkers? 

Or, if I'm lucky, an angel will come speak to me tonight . . .

In Conclusion

Every new start is tough.  At the same time, there is no lack of excitement and new discoveries.

I'm looking forward to each day with ancipation.

And when Christians give me that pitying look and say, "Well, I hope you come back one day", I will pray to whatever god (or maybe to myself) and say, "God forbid!" ; )

Cheers,

Bjarte Harvisen

Email me at
harvisen AT gmail.com

Dogs, Pigs & Apostates

APOSTATE OR TRUTH-SEEKING ADVENTURER?
To Christians, an apostate is one who leaves the faith, perhaps because they were never really "saved" to begin with, and ventures out into the cesspool of the dirty reality of life. In early Christianity, apostasy must have been a frequently occurring event, as the tiny religion was viewed as a cult by the surrounding culture. Thus, there were many warnings against leaving the faith, such as chapter 2 of 2nd Peter in the Christian Bible's New Testament (all quoted verses on this page are from the New International Version - NIV):

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. ¹⁰ This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; ¹¹ yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. ¹² But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. ¹⁴ With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! ¹⁵ They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶ But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
¹⁷ These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. ¹⁸ For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” ²⁰ If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. ²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. ²² Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

Another set of warnings can be found in Hebrews chapter 2:

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. ¹⁵ As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”^[c]

¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷ And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

FEARLESS FREEDOM AFTER MANY YEARS OF BONDAGE
Evangelical Christians are probably supposing that I'm trembling in my boots at the sight of the verses. Alas, nothing of the sort!

Why do I have no fear in the face of such warnings? Because the Christian worldview is based on several false presuppositions:

- Only Christians are going to Heaven

 

- Christians have a monopoly on truth, reality, spirituality and ethics

 

- Everyone who's not a Christian is a drunken, lustful, hardhearted, unbelieving, depraved, fake-story-fabricating, ungodly, bold and arrogant, Hell-bound, animal-like, carousing, pleasure-worshipping, unreasonable, seductive, lost, enslaved dog who's returning to his vomit, a just-washed pig turning back to the mud.

Well, let's turn this view on its head:

- I love self-discipline and high moral standards

- I'm a loving husband, father, son and brother who works hard, is responsible, and seeks to "love my neighbour as myself"

- Tomorrow I'm planning to go out with another agnostic to help feed some poor people, giving a "hand up" not a "hand out"

- I will continue to seek the truth about our Western society, about spirituality, and the nature of reality

I don't know if I'll make it to Heaven, if there is one, but I sure as Hell aim to bring a little Heaven to the earth, in the here and now.

ARE CHRISTIANS THE MORAL PEOPLE THEY CLAIM TO BE?

Christians? Well, let's take a quick look at their moral standards:

 

- Wiped out 80+ million indigenous people living in the Americas, and many millions more in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other European colonies

 

- Supported George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and other Satanists as they destroyed Iraq. I work with Iraqis every day in my job, and often hear about their sad stories. WMDs? The only WMDs were in the lying mouths of motherwackers like Bush, Blair and friends.

 

- Are the most Mammon-worshipping, money-loving, pro-capitalists that the planet has ever seen

 

- Have provided the ideology ("have dominion" in Genesis 1) to totally destroy Mother Nature, and continue doing it through Christian-backed lobby groups such as Wise Use in the USA, and Stephen Harper's anti-environment, pro-Golden-Calf-worshipping Evangelicals in Canada

- Are afraid to REALLY research and explore truth, because they're afraid that their Sacred Cow of an "error-free" Bible, or their own corrupt and contradictory history might be exposed. Therefore, much like the Jehovah's Witnesses they criticise, Evangelicals and other Christians don't read many authors who are not in their religious camp, because . . .

- The entire planet is divided into the Good Guys - Evangelicals, of course - and the Bad Guys - the rest of us, called "Unbelievers".

THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS AND PIGS

 

You Christians say that this happy agnostic is really an apostate, a reprobate, a lost soul, a dog returning to his vomit and a washed pig turning back to the mud?

LISTEN: Dogs and pigs are noble creatures, much better than ideologically-steeped Bad Guys who promote the genocide and marginalisation of poor people, and themselves live in luxury. The only god you worship is the God of Money and Violence, while you pretend, with your fake pieties to have high moral standards. Global warming, pollution, 3rd world poverty, the ongoing destruction of natives and their cultures, and trillions spent on weapons of war, and brick and mortar temples to your gods, are all the result of your direct participation in the fuck-up of Mother Nature and the people, or your guilty silence when it's all happening right in front of your faces!

 

You Evangelicals and Catholics want to have Heaven on earth in the here and now, while making life a living Hell for others.

 

Here's a Bible verse thrown back in your face, religiosos!:

¹ Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. ² Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. ⁴ Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. ⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. (James 5:1-5 NIV)

I could go on and on, but I won't bore all my readers.

Till next post!

For truth, justice and love that contains no BS,

 

Did the OT God Have Mental Issues?

OT = Old Testament (of the Christian Bible)


Sorry, guys, but after decades of reading the Christian Bible literally and finally starting to look at it critically, I´ve been kind-of on a free-for-all, searching for all the passages that made me squirm or roll my eyes over the years.

And here´s one story that´s sure to curl your eyebrows:

18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." 19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead." 20 Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord: "Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn." ' " 24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a husband of blood to me!" 26 So He let him go. Then she said, "You are a husband of blood!"--because of the circumcision. 27 And the Lord said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So he went and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. 28 So Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

(Exodus 4:18-31 NKJV)

So let´s get this straight: first the OT God is plotting with his new partner Moses to fight the King of Egypt, threatening to kill the Pharoah´s firstborn son. The next moment, on the way back to Egypt from Midian, God tries to kill Moses. All because Moses and his Ethiopian wife Zipporah had neglected to circumcise one of his sons. So Zipporah uses a sharp rock to chop it off, in order to stop the Lord from killing his own servant. Then God arranges a nice meeting between Moses and his brother Aaron before they all take on the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Is it just me, or are you wondering too, if a god like this must be a prime candidate for some serious mental problem: Is he bipolar? Schizophrenic? OCD? Borderline? Or does he simply have some deep issue with violent anger? Even when I was an Evangelical Christian, this verse bugged the shit out of me. But, simpleton that I was, I would comfort myself by saying, ¨Well, at least God calmed down by the New Testament!¨

Does it comfort you to think that God could be nice to you one minute, then try to kill you the next, over some simple oversight or fault on your part?

Or do you feel that with Jesus as your Mediator and Protector, God the Father will keep his hands off you? After all, Jesus took all the punishment on the cross, so how could the Father God allow his anger to burst out against you.

I don´t know about you, but I sure don´t want to serve some Hotheaded Deity like this. There are examples again and again in the Bible of this kind of nonsense. But have no fear, the Evangelicals have apologists who are paid by their Christian university or publishing house to defend the faith, and provide answers that will at least calm the consciences of believers (but no one else). And because the Evangelicals, much like their Jehovah´s Witnesses counterparts, don´t read much literature written by those not belonging to their own ¨faith tribe¨.

In this case, with Evangelicals only willing to listen to their own kind and no others, is their any chance that they can look at their own belief system critically? Most dare not. They fear losing their ticket to Heaven. They dread the stares of disapproval from their family and friends. They are afraid that outside Evangelicalism there is no other philosophy or faith that can give them the warm fuzzy feelings that their own beliefs give them. They value their traditions and social networks more than truth. And that´s why many will never question their faith, and God forbid leave it. It´s like the passage in John chapter 6:

66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

(John 6:60-71 NKJV)

Christians would answer to their detractors: ¨Where else shall we go? Only Jesus has the words of eternal life.¨

Case closed. For them at least. Nevertheless, I am hoping there are a few open-minded people out there.

Feel free to drop me a line if you are one of these people of courage who value truth more than comfort, tradition and tribe.

Cheers,

Bjarte Harvisen

E-mail me at

harvisen AT gmail.com

I´m Now a Born Again Agnostic Truth Seeker; I´m Loving It!

THE ONGOING JOURNEY
 
You know, I'm so excited these days!  Yes, I realise that it's just a feeling, that it'll wear off, but please let me enjoy it for awhile.

Yes, this new phase of life has me ecstatic about my freedom from the Evangelical Camp, its ideology, history and unreasonable expectations. Now I'm free to seek out and discover truth, the nature of REAL reality, and not the stuff that the Evangelicals and their Right Wing buddies in business and government dish out to the masses. 

 

Questions I'd like to answer over time:

- What are the foundations of morality and ethics, if it's not "the Word of God"?  I think that Nature has a lot to teach us, as well as indigenous peoples who are uncorrupted by Westerners and our destructive philosophies.  Also, I really like the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, with his moral teachings on loving family, neighbours and even enemies.

- How the Hell did the planet buy into Westernism, and its foundation in Christianity?

- How do other cultures, before their corruption by Western forces, perceive reality?

- How can I love more deeply?

- Etcetera, etcetera

It's going to be a fun journey!  I'm so looking forward to all the adventures ahead.  I did have some adventures during my Evangelical years (1978 - 2012), but damn (!), the BEST IS YET TO COME! 

I'm nearly 46 now, and Higher-Power-willing, I'd like to live a full life, with the heart of a curious infant, the discernment of an old sage, and the happy-go-luckiness of a 20 year old.

To truth!

To adventure!

To love!

To kicking the ass of propagandists!

Cheers,

Bjarte Harvisen

E-mail me at

harvisen AT gmail.com

May the force be with you!  hahaha  ; )