PAST EVENTS

Introduction from SAn Jose Debate

Why I'm not a Christian

My name is Michael Wiseman, and I am an agnostic atheist.

What is an atheist? The textbook definition I use is “a person who lacks a belief in a god.” That’s it. It doesn’t come with any political views or a book of morals. It’s simply a lack of belief. I refer to myself as an "agnostic atheist." Someone who doesn’t know if there is a god but has yet to be persuaded there is a god.

What happened to me? I grew up in the church and believed my bible to be true, but when I actually read my bible, I lost my faith completely. My belief was already dwindling. I stopped going to church, stopped praying, and basically stopped believing. But the final nail in the cross, so to speak, was picking up the book I had been taught from all my life and reading it. I looked into the challenging ideas and stories. I dissected and highlighted. I dived into the history, the people, and the culture. There’s still a mountain of books I want to read and lectures I want to absorb. But with every book, every lecture, and every debate I listened to, it only added to my pile of- “this Christianity thing doesn’t seem to add up.”

That’s my journey in a nutshell.

Now here’s what I learned during my journey.

Right off the bat, there are verses that I feel are too extreme, and I will not be referring to them, but they are a stark reminder that children should probably not be allowed to read this without proper supervision. And what that “proper supervision” consists of, I’m sure, differs greatly between us. I know, because I’ve been doing this for a bit, that some of you are going to say, whether out loud or to yourselves, that I’m taking these stories and verses, which I’m about to present, out of context.

This is what I take away from my studies. Once I took the time to read the stories for myself, to look with unfiltered eyes, the Bible and the religion I had grown up with began to present too many issues.

Starting with, He knows the outcome, why create them?

● Everyone is born sinful, according to Romans 3:23, and deserving of death and hellfire. According to who? The guy who punishes children out of jealousy?

● Yahweh created humans, knowing they would turn out this way. 1 John 3:20 “Yahweh knows everything." He knew the decisions they were going to make before they were born. Why, did he create them? Picture this. God sits alone in the void of infinity. What was he doing? What was he plotting? Existence apparently. What did he want? What were his desires? Apparently, he was in need of worship. So, what does he do? He creates people, for that purpose.

● The Bible says in Isaiah 43:21 that Ywh created people to praise him. Setting aside for the moment the extreme narcissistic nature of such a desire, the plan was to receive worship, to be praised and honored, and glorified. How did he set this plan into motion? In the beginning, he set the trap he knew would work.

● Genesis 2:9 says that Yahweh placed the two trees bearing fruit that not only looked edible but carried with it Yahweh’s golden ticket into perpetual worship, directly in the middle of the garden. The garden where he keeps his children, who do not have the knowledge of good and evil, of right and wrong. Niave as all hell, at least. And Ywh knew this.

What if I were to take a gummy worm, inject it with poison, and place it in the middle of a daycare full of kids? Now, before I left the poisoned gummy in the middle of the room, I lectured the kids about the dangers of eating the worm, I even handed out little leaflets to remind them. How long before one of those kids snatches it up and eats it? not very long. Let's make it more interesting. I’ll let a bad guy in to convince the kids it's safe to eat the poisoned gummy worm. And then, once the kid eats the worm, I hold the cure to the poison as a ransom for love and worship in return. Oh, and the cure is made from a clone of myself, which I had to temporarily put down so I could use his magical blood to counteract the poison I let loose.

Who would be responsible for the actions of the children? I would be 100% responsible. I orchestrated the entire thing.

Who is to blame for the trees being created and placed in the middle of a daycare? Ywh. He set the whole thing in motion.

What happens in heaven? Yahweh receives worship 24/7. All day, every day.

● The Bible says in Revelation 4:6-11 that he even created beings whose sole purpose is to perform a bizarre domino effect of worship for eternity. It’s all about him. This was all part of the plan. Even Satan.

Free will

Free will is used as a carrot at the end of the stick. It’s a rigged game. Set in motion by the one being who wanted to be praised and worshipped for eternity.

● “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing." "He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth,” Daniel 4:35.

There is not one place in the Bible that states we all get free will, but there are several stories and verses that show Ywh interfering with the daily lives of his creations and manipulating or forcing people to do things.

● Psalm 135:6 Ywh does whatever pleases him.

● Whether it’s hardening the heart of the Pharaoh 5 times, Exodus 9:12-10:20-10:27-11:10-14:8 and then in Exodus 14:17 he hardened all the hearts of the Egyptians. That’s not free will.

● In 1 Samuel 19:9-10 and 1 Samuel 18:10-11 Ywh sends an evil spirit to possess Saul, twice. Causing him to throw spears at David. That’s not free will.

● In 1 Kings 22:20-23 Yahweh sends a lying spirit into a bunch of prophets, tricking a king named Ahab to go to his death. Ywh wanted this man to die, so he deceived his own prophets.

● According to John 12:40 and Isaiah 6:10, Ywh blinded the eyes of the Jewish people and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts. That’s not free will.

● Romans 9:18 He has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy on, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

These are not examples of free will. Again, there is not one place I have found that states we all get free will. Ywh interferes and manipulates. Which, again, is not free will.

Is there free will in heaven? Did Satan not fall from heaven after sinning? Satan. Let’s talk about him for a second. God creates a bad guy. On purpose. Who is he?

● Most will reference Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14 to say that Satan was kicked from heaven for committing sins.

Now, before I move on I just want to point out that those verses are referencing human kings and not the devil. These verses do not describe Satan. Back to using the idea that Satan was expelled from heaven. Satan sinned in heaven. He was able to commit a banishable offense in the happiest place off earth. Can anyone sin in heaven or was that just a one-time thing?

Too many questions.

Back to the point, Yahweh supposedly knows every possible outcome before it happens. He can do the Dr. Strange thing, but without the time stone. Meaning, all of the choices he makes are thought out and deliberate. He created Satan, knowing for a fact that this being would steal, kill, and destroy on a daily basis. He handed this evil, lesser being the keys to the earth. Why? Because of sin, or free will, either way, Yahweh is solely responsible for creating things this way. It’s all part of his plan.

● Ywh has the power to stop Satan, yet he allows him to hurt his children. What is he waiting for? According to Revelation 20:9 Satan and his friends will be at the gates of Yahweh's favorite city before the loving Christian deity decides to act. He is more than capable, yet unwilling to step in until the last moment. Why? So he looks like the hero. But what hero creates a bad guy on purpose?

Next issue,

● Hebrews 9:22 Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. His whole thing is that he can’t hang out with his kids unless the blood of the innocent is shed to him, in his name. I have been told countless times that the greatest love story of all is Jesus dying on the cross. The death of Jesus saved all of mankind. From what? Yahweh’s wrath.

Can he forgive without bloodshed? Yes.

● Jesus forgives a paralyzed man in Matthew 9:2, Luke 5:20, and Mark 2:5.

● Jesus forgives a woman who won’t stop kissing his feet- in Luke 7:47-48

● Yahweh forgives David in 2 Samuel 12:13. "Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. "You are not going to die.” So god decides to kill his kid; we’ll get into that later.

● Jesus gave the disciples the power to forgive sin in John 20:23

● Ywh atoned for Isaiah’s sin with a lump of hot coal. Isaiah 6:6-7

● Sin can be forgiven through prayer, according to James 5:15

The death of Jesus was completely unnecessary. Ywh can forgive without the shedding of blood, but decided to require it anyway. Why? It doesn’t make any sense.

Why is the death of Jesus a sacrifice? What did he sacrifice? His weekend? The dudes eternal.

Why was it necessary? Because the loving Christian deity demanded it.

That’s the ultimate love story? God requires the death of the innocent so that he can forgive the guilty. Would you choose to slaughter the innocent to forgive the guilty?

The next issue I found was the contradictions.

● Not just the ones in the creation stories between Gen. 1 and 2. The Bible says in Genesis Chapter 1 that Ywh created man and woman together after he created the animals. But in Gen. 2 Yahweh claims to have created Adam first, then the animals, then Eve. All in an attempt to find a suitable companion for his human male.

● Or the contradictions found in the stories of the birth of Jesus. According to Matthew 1:20, Jesus was born in a house with Magi following a star. Matthew's version even comes with thrills and escapes from a mad king.

● Luke’s version of the events is a bit different. Luke has shepherds, a manger, and an inn with no vacancy. No star, no house, no thrilling escapes—Mary even has time to ponder the events of the day, according to Luke. Two vastly different stories. Both narratives can’t be truth.

● What about the death of Jesus? So many issues here, but I want to address just a few. ● What were the last words of Jesus? Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46 claim it was “my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?" Luke 23:46 claims, "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit,” were his last words. And John 19:30 claims Jesus said, “It is finished,” and then died. Which one was it? They can’t all be true.

● Then there’s the resurrection. What did the women see when they approached the tomb? Mark 16 says it was a young man dressed in white. John Chapter 20 has two angels in white. Matthew 28 says one angel appeared like lightning. And Luke 24 claims it was two men in bright clothes. Who got it right? They can’t all be true.

● Or the blatant issues between 1 Chronicles 21 vs 2 Samuel 24? The only real difference between these two narratives is that in 1 Chronicles 21, Satan tricks David, and in 2 Samuel 24, Ywh tricks David. Both incitements resulted in the loving Christian deity killing 70,000 Israelites by wrathful plague. Why? Because David was tricked into counting his soldiers.

The biggest contradictions I found were surrounding the characteristics of Ywh himself. Specifically, the loving, kind, and patient qualities attributed to him.

For example, God’s slaughtering, starving, and torturing of children out of jealousy and his need for bloodshed and revenge.

● Exodus 20:5 "I, the Lord, your god, am a jealous god, punishing the children for the sins of their fathers."

● Exodus 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

● Numbers 14:18 “Yahweh does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

What if we started executing the children of bad people? Would that be a good thing?

● Hosea 9:16 I will slay your cherished offspring. Why? Because their parents worshipped the wrong god. I’ve heard it said that it’s possible these people were sacrificing some of their children to some fake god. What did the loving Christian deity decide was the best way to handle this infraction? He chose to starve, abort, and slaughter all their children.

● The passover. Exodus 12:29 At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt. Why? Exodus 9:16 I have raised you (Pharaoh) up for this very purpose, that I might show off my power and that my name will be proclaimed in all the earth. This was all part of his plan to show off.

● She bears in 2 Kings 2:23-25 “Elisha went up to Bethel." As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. I’ve heard the age of the boys makes a difference. It doesn’t. The point remains. A curse from Ywh killed 42 human beings. Was Ywh in control?

● David’s child in 2 Samuel chapter 12 verses 15 and 18, Yahweh “struck the child that Bathsheba had borne to David, and he became ill.” verse 18 “On the seventh day the child died." Why? 2 Samuel 12:14 "Because by (sinning) you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.” Is that a good reason to cause a child to suffer and then kill it? Is this a loving, kind, or patient act?

● Last but certainly not least. The flood. Gen 7:23. " 23Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people, animals, and the creatures that move along the ground, and the birds were wiped from the earth."

Every puppy, every kitten, and every nursing baby on the planet was forced to breathe in Ywh’s vengeful rainwater. Why? Genesis 6:6 says it was because “the Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth." So he decided to drown them all.

Why would anyone want to worship such a monster?

The end…..