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  ; )

God Is Busy, Can I Help You? ~ The Devil

More than 1 interpretation . . . 

I bought this t-shirt at a First Nations pow-wow last summer. I loved it so much that I got one for my son and brother-in-law. What intrigues me is the ambiguity of shirt´s message:

1. At first glance, it looks blasphemous. God busy? How could we say this? I remember Jim Carrey´s character in the film Bruce Almighty. He got to step into God´s shoes for a few days, and found out that it was not an enviable position to occupy. Billions of prayers came to Jim Carrey in the form of millions of emails, then in voices in his head. But, as many people believe that God is all-powerful, answering a billion prayers at the same time is easy as pie.

2. This shirt is anti-Devil. He is wearing diapers, the ultimate insult for an evil spirit of Satan´s stature. He is unable to help as God helps. He is just a ridiculous, cartoonish-looking figure.

3. Again, anti-Devil. It shows that the Devil is a liar. He is always trying to impersonate God, to take over his position. God is never busy, never distant. However, Satan would like us to believe that God is far away, unable or unwilling to help. Thus, we can seek the Devil instead. But this is all BS.

4. I really believe in the Devil.  He is more powerful than God.  And God is literally too busy.  So I´m taking over.  Got that?

5. I am the Devil. God has appointed me, on his behalf, to help you. To say that I am the devil is simply a metaphor, a figure of speech. It shows my humility, my recognition of being a fallible, weak human being, prone to waywardness and wandering. However, even in my fallen state, I am willing to lend a helping hand, on behalf of the Almighty. Of course, I´m glad that I can still look buff, a Satanic version of The Rock or Vin Diesel ; )

There may or may not be a real devil. This shirt is just poking fun at religion, trying to get a rise out of people who take their faith so seriously that they can´t get a good joke.

So, religiosos out there, don´t put a contract out on my head. This post and its photo are all in good fun. Always challenge yourselves. Always use your brain. Look at things from different perspectives.

In conclusion, what can we say about the Devils. Here are a few options I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Fuck the Devil. He´s the source of all misery in the world.

2. Who cares about the Devil. Don´t waste your time mythologising about the source of evil in the world. The real dangers are human ignorance, and ultimately, human greed.

3. Bless the Devil. He keeps us on our toes, keeps us from being lazy, keeps us alert and always ready to fight. We needs our enemies just as much as we need our friends.

Use your imagination, folks, and don´t get your panties in a wad!

Cheers,

Bjarte Harvisen

harvisen AT gmail.com

A Take On Jesus: “Armageddon Days Are Here Again”

In my current agnostic path, I think back to my university years when Ioved this rebellious song, “Armageddon Days Are Here Again” – The The, from the 1990 album “Mind Bomb”.  Still relevant today.

But remember: all religions and their followers bow down to the Ultimate Religion on Planet Earth: Money-Worship.  The bottom line for all philosophies, including the fundamentalist, militant “New Atheism” is Gain.  Supposedly most religions and their founders were trying to wean their people away from greed.  But now, religion is simply a tool for profiteering.

Highlights I love:
- Jesus' name has been "hi-jacked" to the point that, if he were to return, he'd be in shock 
- "If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today, he'd be gunned down cold by the CIA"
- God is NOTHING that we imagine him/her/it to be, and no one has a monopoly on him/her/it

Here’s the Youtube video:

And the lyrics:

Are you right here Jesus? (response) Ah
Buddha? (response) Yeah
Muhammad? (response) Okay
But all right friends, let’s go

They’re 5 miles high as the crow flies
Leavin’ vapour trails against a blood red sky
Movin’ in from the East toward the West
With Balaclava helmets over their heads, yes!

But if you think that Jesus Christ is coming
Honey you’ve got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who’s hi-jacked his name
He’ll cut out his heart and turn in his grave

[CHORUS:]

Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on its elbows and knees
It’s forgotten the message and worships the creeds

It’s war, she cried, It’s war, she cried, this is war
Drop your possessions, all you simple folk
You will fight them on the beaches in your underclothes
You will thank the good Lord for raising the Union Jack
You’ll watch the ships out of harbour
And the bodies come floating back

If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He’d be gunned down cold by the C.I.A.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart

But God didn’t build himself that throne
God doesn’t live in Israel or Rome
God belongs to the Yankee dollar
God doesn’t plant the bombs for Hezbollah

God doesn’t even go to church
And God won’t send us down to Allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it’s sown

The world is on its elbows and knees
It’s forgotten the message and worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again

Cheers, 

Bjarte Harvisen

Contact me at

harvisen AT gmail.com

Moving Away From Christianity

I am still in the middle of my re-assessment of Jesus and Christianity.

A little background: last year I was trying to establish a new religious "movement".   It was basically to allow people to follow Jesus without being part of the corrupt churches, whether Evangelical or other Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox or the sects.  I had concluded that the churches were disqualified from calling themselves Jesus-followers because they had done the opposite of the Great Commandments of loving God and neighbour.  Christians had been involved in Empire-building, with all its money-worship and violence, since the time of the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine, who had hijacked the Christian faith for his own political purposes.  Indeed, there has hardly been a time in history where the faith has NOT been hijacked. 

Two notable instances of doing the opposite of Jesus' teaching on love were:

(1) The Genocide of First Nations (indigenous peoples) worldwide since 1492, when Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas.  This process has continued with the marginalisation of native peoples wherever Christians go.  Even Christian evangelism and charity to the "Indians" is basically a pious form of bullying and arrogance.

(2) The 2003 Iraq War, where most Americans, especially the Evangelicals who supported President George W Bush, to attack and destroy a nation on false pretences.  Every day at my work, I meet Iraqi refugees, some of whose relatives and friends have been killed over the past 10+ years in Iraq.  Then we hear stories of American soldiers wearing Scripture references on their uniforms, doing their dirty deeds "in the name of Christ", to the point that non-Christian soldiers feel disgusted to be in the same units. 

Last year, I wanted to base a movement of Jesus' "Messiah-ness" and call it the "Messianic Liberationists".  So I examined all the Scriptures from the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible to highlight how Jesus was the true Jewish Messiah.

After all the initial excitement before and during the start of this Messianic Scripture venture, I ended up disappointed instead.  This was because:
- many of the New Testament citations on the Messiah seem to be either misquoting or downright twisting the original meaning.  For example, the Messianic verses of Isaiah 9 seem to be pointing out a fallible man, and yet at the same time some sort of god-like hero.  Confusing.  And the New Testament citation of Isaiah 9 takes the original verses completely out of context.
- many Old Testament Messianic quotes have never come true.  Christians excuse this by saying that Jesus will fulfill these during his Second Coming.  Hmm, I wonder . . .
- many Messianic verses are, well, rather boring. 

The whole Messianic Scripture Project ended up being anti-climactic.  However, it wasn't until this year that I started doubting the Bible.  It all began when I thought, "Gee, if the Church is not really the 'Chosen People' due to its association with 'Empire' from the time of Constantine until now, then, weren't the 66 books we have in the Christian Bible selected by a committee set up by Emperor Constantine?"  Indeed, this selection of the Scriptural "Canon" (or "Standard") that became our Christian Bible was basically a political manoeuvre on the part of Emperor Constantine and the Roman Empire.

So recently I have gone back and re-examined the foundations of the Christian faith, and after much study and thought, have found it wanting. 

I'm in the middle of a few interesting books:

- Thom Stark's The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong (and Why Inerrancy Tries To Hide It), Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon, USA, 2011. (link)

- Randel Helm's The Bible Against Itself: Why the Bible Seems to Contradict Itself, Millennium Press, Altadena, CA, 2006. (link)

- Bart D. Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them), HarperCollins, New York, 2009. (link)

- Vincent Bugliosi's Divinity of Doubt: The God Question, Vanguard Press, 2011. (link)

- Sam Harris' Letter to A Christian Nation, Random House, New York, 2006. (link)


I watched some interesting films about Jesus:

- Director Ron Howard's "The DaVinci Code" from 2006, starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou  (link)

- "The God Who Wasn't There", a documentary from 2005 (link)
- Bill Maher's 2008 "Religulous" (link)

- the 2001 film, "The Body" with Antoni Banderas and Olivia Williams (link)

Of course, my Evangelical friends would say to me: "No wonder you're doubting your faith!  You're reading all these books from unbelievers!"

The common Evangelical belief is that the world is divided into:
- THE GOOD GUYS, i.e., Christians
- THE BAD GUYS, i.e., everyone else

Thus, Evangelicals are afraid to read the works of "unbelievers" when it comes to matters of religious, philosophy, or metaphysics.

So basically, Evangelicals are stuck in their worldview, with no hope of escaping, unless something earth-shaking happens to them.  Otherwise, they will not do their research, except in apologetic sources that confirm their faith. 

Of course, the scariest thing to an Evangelical is to lose their faith. 

For me, I'm not afraid.  I already made up my mind last year that I refuse to go to a Heaven that is primarily populated by Evangelical Christians.  Why would I like to share sacred space for all eternity with the same people who supported the destruction of Iraq and other nations, and the ongoing genocide of First Peoples?  Why would I want to hang out with people who worship money while pretending to honour the Creator of the Universe?  And why would I like to live somewhere where I'd be in constant debate with Christians, because, by and large, they refuse to use their brains?

Well, Jesus himself said that "by their fruits you'll know them", and by God, these Christians are the last people on earth that I'd like to follow.  30 years of being part of their tribe is enough.  I'm on to bigger and better things now.

Of course, there are always the nice ones.  The truly helpful.  The ones who really love their neighbours.  So I will eagerly get along with Christians, but please, please, pretty please, don't ask me to re-join.  Be content that I keep quoting from the Bible, from which there is still a lot of wisdom that I can apply to life.

Thanks for reading,

Bjarte

Email me at


harvisen AT gmail.com