More Editorials

Debunking A Myth

Some modern Christians believe that their religious view is the only one that is actually important and their sole reference text which is what they use as proof is The Holy Bible and this is what some of them believe that book says as well as direct quotes from their Bible plus what I believe are sensible questions to words and phrases in their Bible that they sometimes fail to acknowledge even exist.

1.) The Christian God, Jehovah created man with and/or by power that only Jehovah had.

Gen. 1:26

And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the

earth.

Who is the us referred to in this text? Us of course would imply that Jehovah had help creating the supposedly first man. Angels are not specifically mentioned as being the ones who helped Jehovah create the first man but some Christians will automatically tell you that this is what was meant but this is not stated in the King James version of the Bible which is considered to be the standard accepted version. Perhaps Jehovah had a wife or perhaps he is not the only God.

2.) Why only worship that Jehovah?

Ex. 20: 3-5

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me:

According to the Holy Bible both the Egyptians and the Hebrew peoples each had their very own distinct religion and God or Gods. The Hebrews called their most high God Jehovah and the Egyptians called their most high God, Atum. The Hebrews believed that they could only worship their God, Jehovah. The Egyptians worshipped Atum and others, many of whom were descendents of Atum.

3.) Who is Jehovah?

And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.

Jehovah is/was the high God of the Hebrew nation and not the high God of their neighbors, the Egyptians. The Egyptians had their own their own pantheon of Gods which included a high God known as Atum and Atum-Ra. The Egyptian pantheon consisted primarily of Atum or Atum-Ras descendents who each had their on responsibilities and tasks to fulfill. Pharaoh was considered to be the highest ranking religious official in all of Egypt and fulfilled the role of high priest.

Jehovah demanded fidelity of only his own followers who were a rather small, poverty stricken group of desert dwellers primarily because he was a jealous God rather than because he was the only or best or most powerful god as is commonly stated by many Christians. Most Christians do teach that jealousy is a sin and a forbidden act. Why do thy expect better behaviour from themselves and their fellow Christians than they do from their own God? Why should the deities that we worship be of lesser moral character than we are?

To Kill Or Not To Kill.

Ex. 20:

Thou shalt not kill.

Ex.22:18

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

Mk. 12:33

And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

One of the Ten Commandments plainly states that Christians are forbidden to kill. It does not say except Witches or Egyptians or Arabs or Moslems or Afghanis. In Matthew, Christians are told to love their neighbors as they love themselves and by saying neighbor, Jesus clearly meant people of neighboring countries, who probably worshipped a different God than Jehovah and this is clarified in the verses that directly follow this one.

Ex. 20:12

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy god giveth thee.

Eph. 6:4

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Prov. 13:24

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

What makes people wrathful? Would you be wrathful if you got one too many swats on the backside with a belt or paddle? Does it make you angry to be punished for something that you did not really do but were accused of? How many of you really knew that the Bible said these things? There is still such a thing as child abuse. There are far too many supposedly good Christians who chastise their children too much because they dont know when to stop (the Bible does not specifically say what is too much) and they are taught that abusing their children is acceptable but they dont call it abuse because their Bible does not.

Eccle.7:12

For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

Prov. 10:14

Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of fools is near destruction.

Prov. 3:13

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Eccle. 1:18

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Prov. 19:8

He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.

Prov. 20:3

It is an honour for a man to cease from strife; but every fool will be meddling.

Lk.16:8

And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of the light.

Do I really need to add a commentary here?

Matt. 13:36-43

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is he end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall be the end of this world.

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matt 20:1-16

For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And he went out about the third hour, an saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

And said unto them; go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

But when the first came they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received a penny.

And when they had received it, they murmured against the Goodman of the house,

Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny?

Take that is thine and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Eccle. 3:1

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which has been planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

What do you know about how permissible your evil neighbors behaviour is or isnt? That Bible teaches that there is a time that all things are supposed to happen. It also teaches that Christians are supposed to go out and learn the truth about things rather than sit home guessing. Has your favourite t.v. preacher ever really asked a Witch what he or she actually believes or are they preaching about a subject that they have never really studied? Did that t.v. preacher get all of his information from a practicing Witch or from another Christian preacher? Who did he get his information from? Did he only survey one practicing Witch who maybe was feeling a bit reclusive that day and just wanted him to leave so she thought shed insult him so badly that he would quickly volunteer to leave?

There are also Biblical teachings about the unchristian behaviour of those who slander others. Are you really a good Christian or have you just been saying that you are? Who taught you how to be a good Christian and who taught them? It is the advice of this author (and always has been) that if you truly are serious about being a good Christian that you should assign yourself so many Bible chapters to read per day until (within a years time) you can say that you really know and understand what that Holy Bible teaches. Most Christian ministers usually quote from only a chosen few Bible verses and so their congregations are missing a lot of information. I dare you to read the whole King James version of that Holy Bible in a years time.

Then decide if Christianity as widely practiced today is right for you or whether or not youd rather just practice your own private version.

This will hold true for almost every religion, for they all have their own Holy books.

Author: M. Green

Fundamental Christianity

I would like to address the issue of freedom of religion as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to all U.S. citizens vs. the Independent, Fundamental Baptist theory that only Christians should have religious freedom and all other religions should be suppressed.

A number of years ago, it was rather rudely brought to my attention that some members of the then Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church believed that only they had the right to practice their religion and that they had the God-given right to prosylitize and deprogram any person who was not a member in good standing of the Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church. A member in good standing was dictated to be one who had not strayed from that sect in any way, who regularly tithed 10% of their income to their local Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church which they were expected to attend every time the doors were open and who dressed only according to their rather narrow-minded view of how a true Christian dressed.

It is known fact that many Christian denominations or traditions have their own unique interpretation of their holy book, the Bible, and that they dont always agree with one another on any given interpretation. There are even variances of opinion within each denomination or tradition. Some denominations are extremely strict and others are more liberal. For example, some believe that a woman must always wear either a dress or a skirt in order to be judged a proper Christian lady.

They also tend to believe that the U.S. Constitution applies only to them and that their civil rights are the only ones that are sacred and worthy of being protected by the U.S. Constitution. They therefore tend to support the idea that it is okay to kidnap adults who either practice some non-Christian religion or who do not practice Christianity the way this small sect of Christians believe Christianity should be practiced. The U.S. Constitution clearly states that all people have the right to practice their religious beliefs in any way that they believe is correct as long as they are not murdering others, etc

One of the remarks that I constantly heard was that non-Independent, Fundamental Baptists were not true Christians and not worthy of the love of their deity and that it was our job to show them the truth about their spiritual errors and convert them to the Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church and its way of thinking.

My civil rights were violated almost continually while I was associated with this group. I was 16 years old at the time and my custodial parent had signed over complete custody of me to a particular Independent, Fundamental Baptist group. She never met any of these people face to face, there was only some written correspondence or telephone calls and a one hour visit by one of my aunts with the founders of this particular evangelical association which was a member of the (then) Independent, Fundamental Baptist Association (not to be confused with the Southern Baptist Convention or any other Baptist organization). I was forcibly removed from my home by one of my aunts and tied up and thrown in the back seat of a car and taken away from my home in Indiana to an Independent, Fundamental Baptist home for wayward girls in Georgia.

I was not asked whether or not I wished to live with that group of Independent, Fundamental Baptists.

I was only permitted to have what that group of Independent, Fundamental Baptists wished for me to have. Independent, Fundamental Baptists have a similar view as the Catholic Church in that they too have a list of books that are forbidden to all lay-members. I was considered to be a lay-member by those in charge in Georgia. They received no state funding and therefore were not monitered by any state agency. There were no inspections and no state guidelines were acknowledged. They believed that they were above the law and that their holy book, the Bible, was the only guideline that they were required to adhere to.

I was not permitted any non-gospel music, books, newspapers, etc

There was a very limited dress code and much pigeon-holing and bigotry.

I was not notified on my 17^th birthday that according to Georgia legal statutes I was considered to have reached my legal majority and could therefore move into my own dwelling away from those Independent, Fundamental Baptists and wear whatever garments that I wanted to wear and listen to whatever kind of music that I desired.

My incoming and outgoing mail was censored as were my few telephone calls. I was not permitted to make any outgoing telephone calls. I was forbidden access to a telephone except under supervised conditions. I was not permitted to have any money in my pocket or purse 99% of the time, it was convisgated and placed in an envelope in a locked room to which I had very, very limited access.

I was expected to publicly and privately beg for money for the girls home in which I lived and to humiliate myself by giving defaming public testimony about my own character. The people in charge had an opinion of me and I was not permitted to disagree with it even if what they believed was untrue. I was not asked whether or not my description of my life before that girls home was any different than the way my custodial parent had told them it was. I was presumed a liar but my custodial parent was not.

There was no presumption of innocence until proven guilty. My testimony was unwanted and unheard even when I shouted it out. I was proven guilty by hearsay only, not based upon what acts that I was seen committing. I was encouraged and even commanded to infringe upon the civil rights of others. I had no privacy and no outside friends and went on no dates. I was not even permitted to choose what style of eyeglasses that I wished to have. This group was very partial to teaching us the evils of communism and socialism and defining each of these for us. It was partially due to this that I eventually theorized privately that this particular Independent, Fundamental Baptist group was condemning the communistic and socialistic actions of particular others while actually practicing some of the very acts that they supposedly abhorred. This was the day that I decided that I had had enough and if for a short while, I had to keep what I really believed to myself it was better than becoming what they wanted me to be. I changed my personal opinion of what the definition of good is and I lost what little respect that I had for those in charge and I am sure they knew it but I tried not to flaunt it. I finally got out of that place and immediately procured an old pair of used corduroy pants for me to wear, cranked up the first rock and roll radio station that I came across on the dial. I know I decided that Id rather die than live the way that that group of Independent, Fundamental Baptists wanted me to and I would even rather risk going to their Hell.

I have seen a version of Hell and it is called violating the basic civil rights of others. I am not the property of my parents and it is not my sole job to make sure that they are fulfilled and happy nor should I be expected to willingly take the blame if they are not. They had me and not the other way around. When you become a parent, you are expected to bear certain responsibilities and one of these may be that you have less time to party with your friends because there is a small being who needs you to help care for them and not the other way around. Children also need to be told and shown that you love them, dont expect them to read your mind to figure this out. One of my parents told me that they stopped loving me as much when they had a son, four years after my birth. I became expendable. It is also a fact that being accused of committing a particular act does not make you guilty of actually performing that act and anyone can say that they know all of your hopes and dreams when perhaps they really do not. This is called a fabrication or a lie. They may not always realize that they are fabricating stories about you. Not everyone lives in the real world all of the time, some do only when it is comfortable for them. What they fantasize about your view of reality and what you want may become what they believe is the truth. Be careful when judging others and be cautious who you condemn and for what.

nature prints

photograph prints

I hope you read this and it pisses you off.

international prints

banner prints

Contact me: dragkingaswell@yahoo.co.uk.com

Hate mail will be round filed after I laugh at it.

   I am the webmaster of this site but that doesn't necessarily mean that I am the only one with access to it or that I get to approve everything that goes on it. I don't necessarily get to check it regularly nor do I necessarily have regular access to a computer to access it and assess the contents.

   I may not necessarily approve or agree with everything on this site (or any other). I just may not have had time to access this one to repair it.

   I ain't necessarily willing to be blamed for what somebody else did to this site or at this site or any other. This site ain't necessarily hacker proof.

   I ain't necessarily going to always use proper spelling, punctuation or grammar merely because you say so, think so, expect it, or want it.

Author: M. Green 2007