I was talking to some friends the other day about some things and a point was brought up. Getting straight to it, the point is that modern Christianity is a main cause of Atheism. The problem being that a lot of people that claim Christianity decide to skip over the parts of the bible that they don't want to follow. I have my fair share of them, but I'm getting better. I've been wanting to write something about this for a while, but haven't had the time. Also, I came back to the top after finishing to let you know that I am slightly tired and might have done a sloppy job. No editing today. All raw. Here it goes.
I will start off by saying that I am not condemning anyone. A lot of people are simply ignorant on the subject. Whenever anyone questions the status quo of Christianity, other Christians refute it almost instantly. Most of the time with no biblical context, only basing their fact upon the way they were raised or what they have heard from other people. How modern Christianity has strayed so far away from biblical context, I have no clue. But it's really hard to say people are living right when you simply read the bible. First off, a lot of things were lost in translation and a lot of translations were taken in different ways. It has been stretched and skewed so much since the beginning that these newer and newer versions are just farther and farther off. Granted everyone's interpretation is their own (and should be) there are some things that are so clear, yet so neglected.
I'll start off with the Sabbath. There are several scriptures that say spending money is forbidden. Yet people overlook it. Southern Baptists always have the stereotype of letting out church early so they can get to the restaurants before they get busy. If you want to get even more into it, you aren't even supposed to leave your home. Technically speaking, you aren't supposed to travel more than half of a mile. So 1/4 mile to church and 1/4 mile back is all you have. No work is to be done either. Which goes with the spending money part. If you spend money on the Sabbath, you are assisting someone in working on the Sabbath. All of this is clearly written in the bible. I will supply you with verses if need be, but I didn't feel like quoting all of them. Next flaw. The Sabbath is supposed to be observed on the 7th day of the week. Look on your calendar. What day is #7? It's not Sunday. The 7th day of the week is Saturday. Yep. Guess who changed that? The Catholic Church. Even more technically speaking, all of the days in the bible were observed from sundown to sundown. Meaning the Sabbath is from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.
Here's another topic some like to skew, and/or overlook. America loves their bacon. We love our ham. But there is no where in the bible that refutes the no pork law. Here's the scripture in which people argue against this case. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' (Mark 7:18-20). Did you notice the parentheses? That means Jesus didn't actually say that. It was added in. If you read the text in it's entirety, it does not say he made all foods clean. Jesus was simply saying that was goes in your stomach does not defile you, it's what goes into your mind. Challenge me on this if you want. There is more where that came from.
What about holidays? Christmas and Easter were both Pagan holidays. During Easter, babies were sacrificed to the god of fertility, known as Ishter. Christmas also came from Pagan rituals. Don't believe me? Look it up. Wikipedia might suffice. These holidays came from Pagan tradition. Not the bible. Not God. Now, there are several scriptures that say that God can turn evil into good for his own. And you can take that and leave. However here are some notes.
"Be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." You must not worship the Lord your God in their way." Deut.12:30-31
"Do not learn the way of the Gentiles." Jeremiah 10:2.
All of the holidays that we, as Christians, attempt to attribute to God are the opposite of what he wants. They were all Pagan ways of worship for their own gods. So why is that still ok? Next point is that Christians rarely celebrate the holidays that were meant to be celebrated. Passover for one. Yom Kippur is another. Jesus celebrated these. He did not celebrate any of the other holidays. These were all taken from Pagan practice later on and applied to Christianity.
All of that being said, it is a wonder that Christianity has strayed so far away on these simple things. It is also a wonder that so many people that study the bible for so long to become pastors and leaders simply overlook these things. Because that's how they were brought up. And that's how their parents were brought up. And so on. Point being, I'm not condemning people who live against what I have just typed. However, if you are reading this and call yourself a Christian, I would hope you would do some research on your own religion. Did you eat leavened bread this past week? You aren't supposed to. How many people know that? They don't teach these things in church. Why not? That is my question. Why do we care so much about celebrating a Pagan holiday (Easter) that we don't do what the bible tells us to do? Instead we buy things for our children filled with gelatin (peeps, jelly beans, and other fun stuff) unknowingly that it is made with horse and pig (forbidden) and just pretend it's ok. Meanwhile we don't celebrate the holiday (Passover) that Jesus celebrated and told us to celebrate.
Back to my main point. Atheists often combat Christianity by claiming that we contradict ourselves. We do. The things that we believe and teach in the bible contradict each other. But that's not what the bible says. It's what we choose to learn. My message in all of this is not to prove that I know more, I am a better person, or condemn anyone. My message is to inform people that what they are doing is simply wrong. There. I said it. Whether it be knowing or unknowing, it is wrong. If you say you believe the bible, if you say you believe in God, and you say you are a Christian, then follow his law. All of them. Not just the ones you like.
This post is likely to get some people fired up. If you are mad or disagree with the things I just said, that's fine. But in reality, all you are doing is lying to yourself (that is if you claim to be a Christian and are mad after reading this). There are all types of "radical Christians" out there that like to come up with new things and skew the bible just to get people angry. This is not my point. And this is not the case. Everything that I've said is in the bible. It's right there. It's not some weird way of interpreting it. If you want to know where I got my information from, read the bible. Or you can contact me. I'd love to talk to you about it. I have facebook, I have twitter, and my email address is mattdgn@hotmail.com. Hit me up. Before you stone me with words of blasphemy, ask God to show you more. Ask yourself if you've really been reading the bible or if you've just let people tell you what it says. The last sentence might sound like I'm contradicting myself, but I'm not asking you to believe the things I've said in this post because I said it. I'm asking you to search yourself. I'm asking you to research the very religion you claim. That's not much to ask, is it? If you believe in something, I think you should, at the least, know where things came from and know why you believe what you believe.
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