A different Christian view
Jim Reynolds
religious thoughts
For the Christians, and those who believe in that 'Christian' rhetoric:
Your book, 1 John, 3 Chapter Verses 7-11 (KJV)
7.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from
the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that
he might destroy the works of the devil.
9.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the
devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he
that loveth not his brother.
11.
For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we
should love one another.
In Plain Modern English
7.
It is SIMPLE, do not let someone try to tell you differently: anyone
that does good is good just like God himself.
8.
Anyone that does things which they know is wrong is of the devil;
because the devil has been the opposite of good ever since the
beginning. SATAN means adversary, or against something. Because of
this, the truth that shows everyone what is right and wrong is seen
by everyone, so that everyone has a chance to destroy the devil.
9.
Anybody that is born of God does not sin; because the seed of God
remains in the person who is born of God.
10.
Because of this simple concept, the things which people do are seen
by everyone. Whoever does things which are not good is not of God,
neither is anyone who hates another.
11.
This is the same old babble you have always heard, you should love
everyone because love is good, and good is God.
Commentary
One can easily make a deep philosophical dialog regarding the definitions
of many words. However, let us break down each thought and through
deduction bring forth the obvious.
I will begin with one basic belief that does not require a belief of gods,
spirits, and witchcraft. The belief that everyone knows 'good' from 'bad',
or 'right' from 'wrong'. At first glance one would say that is not
accurate because right and wrong is subjective. The subjectiveness of
right and wrong is irrelevant. If you do something wrong you know it.
Unless I am insane, and actually do hear voices in my head, or I am the
only one who knows right and wrong.
What is right? What is wrong? What is good? What is bad? Let us again use
deduction. Is vanilla ice cream good? You know this answer. Does a cat
feal good when it lays down in warm sunshine? Ah, it seems everyone does
know what is good and what is not. What kind of man would beg for a knife
for which he will use to castrate himself? Why don't you do this? Seems if
one did not know good from bad all sorts of things would happen. One might
just jump out of a fast moving vehicle during mid conversation. Obviously
one must know what is good and what isn't. Again I could ask if we had no
idea then how could we form laws for people to be governed by. It seems at
the very least someone must have this skill. Maybe only Federal and World
Court Judges know right from wrong.
There is no need in breaking down the 'how old must a baby be before it is
ok to abort'. If one were to attempt to write down 'good' they would be
writing all day. Simply because of its 'subjectiveness'. In regards to,
'Is it ok for two people of the same sex to marry?' or 'How old must a
baby be before it is considered not bad to perform an abortion?' Come
on... why are we even asking such a question? I always tell people, rather
than waste our time debating if something is right or wrong, or good or
bad let us first define what is right and wrong. Alas, we approach the
fundamental problem! If we have no definition then why waste our time
making laws? Of course any wise person knows why these questions are
asked. One fundamental reason is the innate desire that humans want to
know the truth. Why do you think you have scientists? People scour their
planet everyday for more knowledge. Like a moth flying to a porch light
man inevitably will be drawn to the light. He will always continue until
his answers are satisfied.
Through deduction we can now say we have a clear definition of good and
bad, right and wrong. If using such an elementary definition of good and
bad how would one of those Christian verses look?
Perhaps all that nonsense the Christians parrot about Jesus saving them
from their sins was true after all. I am curious though, if Jesus saved
people from their sins, then why is there so much sinning? Oh and for
those not familiar with that silly religious word sin here is the
definition: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sin
defined: Something regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly
wrong.
Sin is just a word with a religious spin on it that means wrong, against
some god. Christians claim their God is good, according to their book.
They even claim he is love. I think often the confusion lies somewhere in
that definition. It seems God is just something one worships. In essence
the atheist may just well have a god of 'I don't believe in God'. Ones
belief in god or not is irrelevant. God is just a title, rather an
adjective. To say one does not believe in God would be similar to saying
'I don't believe in president.'
In conclusion, I gather that God, the ONE ALL TIME GOD of ALL, the ONE -
would be the very definition of GOOD. Suppose one were to actually do good
regardless of the cost to themselves? Seems that if one was 'born of God'
that would be the status of an individual. Furthermore, it seems that that
one would be as GOD.
Jim Reynolds
blog at inetg dot net