A god that's not timeless

God is supposed to be a perfect, all-knowing and omnipotent being who exists in all times at once.  Hell, he's supposed to have created even the concept of time. What's interesting is that he shows evidence of changing over time, which may suggest something other than timelessness. In the Old Testament, he was the god of wrath. In the New Testament, he's the god of mercy. His personality and the way he interacts with humanity certainly seems to evolve quite a bit.

According the bible, there were a few times in humanity's history where god decided that things weren't quite working out the way they were supposed to, so he did something drastic to fix them. With the Noah's Ark story: he was displeased with the entire population of the human race, so he essentially picked up the Etch-A-Sketch and gave it a good shake. Hurray for the Great Flood. He wiped out humanity and started over.

Much later, the human race is being a collective bitch again and something needs to be done. Maybe the drowning of millions of his precious creation broke his heart the last time he had to do it, so he decided to try a more peaceful (and less mass-murderous) solution. So he became man in the form of Jesus and provided a new way of getting into heaven, saving the whole lot of us miserable bastards. These events and god's reaction to them seem to blatantly indicate that he was learning along the way, and changing the way he did things accordingly. He was presented with a problem, he reacted with a solution. He was later presented with a similar problem, and he reacted differently than before, with a new and better solution.

It's always said that god will come again and "judge the living and dead", or essentially judge every human who's ever lived. To judge someone is to assess them and decide if they've done things properly. If he already knew who would successfully pass this judgement before he even made everyone, then the "Day of Judgement" would really be the "Day of Sorting", when he'd just create two lines for everyone on his pre-determined list – heaven or hell. But the fact that he still has yet to judge each one of us – to evaluate by some criteria and decide a consequence – means simply that he hasn't decided yet. Which means that time in his life hasn't happened yet either.

Everything god has done, currently does, or will do, seems to follow the pattern of "action, reaction". Things happen, and then he reacts in some way. It also seems to indicate that god learns from his experiences and does things differently later. This seems to point to a being that could be going along a timeline similar to us.

If god was perfect and existed throughout all of time, then there would be no difference in him between the two testaments, Jesus would have always existed as a way of getting into heaven, and he could have foreseen the collective bunch of assholes the human race was becoming and possibly avoided the Great Flood.

Now it may not be such a big deal for god to be on a timeline like us. If he's got power that's still infinite in comparison, what difference does it make? It could cause us to redefine our definition of "perfect". Or it could open a can of worms about whether god has to be perfect and omnipotent in every way to do what he does. And if it can be said that god isn't perfect, then the entire religion risks unraveling into oblivion.

It could also be that we're the ones who change, so through our perspective it appears that god is changing with us. Much like reading the same book once every 10 years. It would be an entirely different experience and you would learn new things every time you read it. But it's you who has changed. The book, as the teacher, has remained the same.

The Plagiarism of Jesus Christ - part I: Jesus vs. Horus

Many frequently argue against the historicity of Jesus Christ, saying that he never existed as a human on earth at all. One of the most common arguments I've encountered is that of plagiarism: that the story of Jesus is a conglomeration or an outright rip-off of many previous god stories before him.

Rather than taking these claims at face value (especially since most were just comments on blogs or videos, with no effort to back them up with research), I decided to take on the task of doing some research myself. I would examine the stories of these other gods that the Jesus story is said to have been stolen from, and come to my own conclusions.

Disclaimer: I didn't break into the ancient underground vaults of the Pyramids or the Vatican, I just did some online research from places like Wikipedia and other specific sites dedicated to the research of that god. These comparisons are made by me, I am not referencing any of the hundreds of comparisons I've seen others copy, paste, and essentially regurgitate haughtily (nor will I list them here). I am not an expert on ANY religious figure, but I can read about them and compare for myself. I wasn't looking for any specific details to compare, I just made the comparisons as I ran across them. The first figure I'm analyzing is the Eqyptian god Horus.

Case Study: Jesus vs. Horus

Comparisons:

Birth:
Jesus: Born of a virgin named Mary, who was impregnated by the God / the Holy Spirit.
Horus: Born of the Goddess Isis, who reconstructed the body of her dismembered husband Osiris so that they could conceive their god-son Horus. Isis was not a virgin, since she was in fact sexed up by the golden phallus that she made for her husband Osiris. Both Horus' parents were gods.

Name:
Jesus the Christ: means Jesus "the anointed one". Taken from the Hebrew ritual of anointing someone with oil so that they have a divine purpose or influence.
Horus: means Falcon, other meanings include variations of "the sky" or "the one from above".

Death / Resurrection:
Jesus: Died after being crucifed, was resurrected only once as the same man, Jesus. He remained on earth for 40 days before ascending into the heavens.
Horus: Died and was continually re-incarnated as each successive Pharaoh. Horus is considered the Pharaoh and ruler of both the world of the living and the dead. I didn't find details relating to how Horus died.

Entity:
Jesus: God in human form.
Horus: He was said to have been the sky, and also the sun and moon. The sun and moon were his eyes, and when these celestial objects were seen traveling across the sky, it was said to be Horus, the falcon, flying across it.

Physical Characteristics:
Jesus: Allegedly looked like any other financially poor male from the period, probably having long-ish hair, a beard, and the common robes of the common man. Was a Hebrew from the middle-east, so was probably of dark complexion, dark hair, brown eyes (as opposed to the oft-depicted light-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed Jesus).
Horus: Head of a falcon. His left eye, the moon, was gouged out during a battle with his jealous uncle Set (or Seth), his mother Isis' brother. This was to explain why the moon is not as bright as the sun. Horus is generally depicted wearing a pschent (red and white crown) to symbolize his dominion of all of Egypt. Otherwise he seems to have the body of a human, dark skin, and wears the clothes of the area/period: a robe/skirt thing, bare feet, assorted jewelry.

Enemies:
Jesus: Usually enemies involved people of power: royalty, the Pharisees, etc. This was mainly because of Jesus' claim to being the song of God, which was a heresy (unless of course you actually WERE the son of God, which then of course anything goes).
Horus: Many stories show Horus' jealous uncle Set (the god of the desert) to be a prevalent enemy. Many battles between the two are told, some for Horus to avenge his murdered father Osiris, and others to fight for the rule of Egypt.

Theological Hierarchy:
Jesus: The same entity as God and the Holy Spirit. None seem to have any authority over the other, as they all are facets of the same God. Jesus does pray to his "Father" many times which could indicate Jesus' lesser status as God, however in many cases this is said to have been done as an example to other people witnessing the prayer. Other prayers by Jesus are also said to have been strictly fulfilling prophecies made by previously written scriptures.
Horus: Seemed to be somewhat of equal powers/abilities/authority as his uncle Set, whom he battled and challenged in many different ways (from actual fights to boat races). The two go before other apparently higher gods to argue over the rule of Egypt.

Youth:
Jesus: was a human child in his youth. Not much is mentioned about specific clothing or adornments.
Horus: Was thought of as the form of the rising sun, supposedly representing the first light of day. Sometimes depicted as a human child wearing the united crowns of Egypt.

As Savior:
Jesus: the savior of all humankind, providing the only way into heaven after your physical body dies.
Horus: referred to as savior with respect to rescuing his father Osiris' earthly domain from Isis' brother Set. Possibly other reasons for the word "savior", but none seem to point specifically to the salvation of man in any way.

Purpose as a God:
Jesus: God came to earth in the human form of Jesus to save the human race from damnation. He was also fulfilling prophecies of ancient Jewish scripture. By acknowledging Jesus as the son of God and worshiping him, once your body dies, Jesus saves your eternal soul and allows you to be in heaven with God for all eternity. The punishment for not acknowledging Jesus is that your eternal soul is sent to hell to be with other damned souls and you experience pain and agony for all eternity.
Horus: I can't seem to locate any specific purpose for Horus' existence as a God, nor any specific reward or punishment for worshipping him. The gods of Egypt, much like the gods of Greece, seemed to procreate at will and for no specific divine reason, just like people do. If anyone has more sources on this, that would be appreciated.

Relating to other Gods:
Jesus: Is the same as God and the Holy Spirit. Considered one of three facets of the same God. Said to be the only one true god.
Horus: Very closely associated/intermingled with many other gods, including: Re (god of the sun), Min (god of fertility), Sopedu (some sort of protecting or "border-patrol" type god), Khonsu (god of the moon, time and knowledge), and Montu (another god of the sun, also a warrior god).

I'm trying to stay unbiased here, but I have to seriously say WOW... how could anyone on earth actually think these two stories are even remotely related? I think what happens is someone reads a claim online about this (or watches Zeitgeist), and then just spouts it out to everyone they know without actually doing the research. About an hour of research tells me pretty quickly that there doesn't seem to be any plagiarism of any kind between Jesus and Horus. The two stories are very unique from each other. But hey, do the research yourself, that's the only way to know anything for sure anyway.

Our perception of reality kinda sucks

The reality of human beings is based entirely on input from our five types of sensory organs. With our eyes we have the ability to experience a certain frequency range of light energy; our ears can perceive a range of vibrations traveling through the atmosphere; our nose can detect matter particles in the air to determine their origin; our tongue can evaluate a variety of substances to identify them before ingesting; and our skin detects physical contact with other objects. Each of our sensory organs has extreme limitations compared to possible stimulus.

Similarly, the only four dimensions that humans can experience are width, height, depth, and time. We know many other dimensions exist, we can prove them mathematically, but as humans, we are only able to experience those four as our entire reality.

Bottom line: we are only able to truly comprehend a VERY small fraction of our universe. We have instruments that can detect a far greater range of stimulus, but their range is not infinite, and they still must be translated into the small range that we are able to experience and understand. And they were created by four-dimensional beings, and hence they are bound to them as we are. For us to think that the provable universe ends with our limited abilities of perception is incredibly ignorant of us.

I believe there is other life in the universe – it may be few and far between, but the universe is certainly big enough to accommodate terrible odds. It's like if your odds winning the lottery were 1 in a million, and you bought 800 trillion tickets, you'd win more than a few times. What if there was life that existed well outside anything we have the capability of detecting? There could be a whole race of beings existing right along side of us, and neither us nor them would know the other is there. What if there was one kind of being that lived in every available dimension simultaneously, and therefore was aware of every kind of life that existed? That being could have considerable power by our standards, probably even appearing omnipotent. It might have the ability to create matter, manipulate energy, exist in all times at once.

What if this being is the one that we call God?  Sure the word “God” evokes images of a bearded man who lives in the clouds, and there’s a white pearly gate surrounding his land called “heaven” and all those lovely oft-sung metaphors of the Bible and the Renaissance. And I think the word has so much mythical stigma and emotional baggage. But all antiquity aside, what if this being were an actual form of life that existed in the universe, living in all dimensions at once, appearing omnipotent to us?  What if this being had the ability to manipulate matter at a molecular level, to create and control energy such as gravity, light, magnetism, and others we don’t even know exist yet. What if it had the power to govern solar systems, to move galaxies, to exist in all points of time and space at once.

Let's say hypothetically this being we've named God is managing our universe, maybe he governed the sciences that created our solar system and planet, perhaps he initiated the spark of life that created the first amoeba in the oceans billions of years ago, and that animal grew and developed into the complex life that currently occupies our planet. Perhaps he decides to pay the human race a visit – but there’s a problem. Our brains can only perceive a limited sensory input within four dimensions – so how would we ever understand exactly who we’re talking to if he just decided to show up? The only way to truly communicate with such a race would be to become one of them, to be born into the world as a human himself. So he selects a host female, impregnates himself into one of her eggs during her ovulation cycle, and is born into the world as a human being that can walk and talk among us. And as the human form of this omnipotent being, of course this guy would have great powers by our standards: manipulating matter, energy, even life.

This type of scenario would be perfectly acceptable in an Isaac Asimov novel or an episode of Star Trek. And yes those are science fiction, but they are earnestly based on real and theoretic scientific principles. But you put the word "God" on it and for many, the stigma tears it all apart. What if God was literally another form of life that existed in the universe, who just happened to be a hell of a lot more advanced and powerful than we are?

The God of Love vs. the God of Wrath

God's love is something that is allegedly unending, and it defines the Christian people. Jesus even said that you'll know his people because they love one another. This idea sounds wonderful, but is contradicted quite a bit by God himself and by Christians throughout history.

The bible speaks of God's unending love for humanity. Yet in the bible God actually murders millions of people for not believing in him. It sounds like the never-ending love of God may be reserved only for the people who love him back.

Human acts in the name of God (outside the bible) have been substantial. Genocide/mass murder/torture committed by humans in the name of God: the South/Central Americas by the Spanish, North America by Europeans in general, the Inquisition in Europe, off the top of my head. Many modern Christians apologize for these acts and say they do not follow the true Christian ways of love and compassion. But the idea of murder and punishment for non-believers is very prevalent in the bible, which IS the doctrine for Christianity. Murderous acts committed by men outside the bible pale in comparison to acts described in the bible which are either the direct order of God, or committed by God himself:

In the bible: deaths as punishment from God
This site references every single specific bible verse in which people are killed by God, or by God's direct order.

Deaths which can be counted by specific numbers in the bible: 2,301,417
Estimate deaths from events numbered and not numbered (the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, plagues, famines, first-borns smote, etc): 33,000,000

Trying to weigh these facts with the infinite love of God about which I'm told, I tried to find a list of all bible verses dealing with love. I couldn't find one specific source that claimed to list every single one, most only list their "top 25" or their favorite versus. Here's one list: In the bible: God's love
Every list I found was considerably shorter than the list of death versus, and the two ideas seem very contradictory. On one hand, God has wrath for and kills people who turn against him. God commands people to kill sinners. On the other hand, God unconditionally loves all of humanity, even those who are sinners and who turn against him. God commands people to love they neighbor as thyself, and to love sinners.

In a real attempt to understand God' s rules about love and wrath, based on what we are given in the bible and throughout history, I make this conclusion: God loves all of humanity, and he rewards those who love him back, and punishes those who do not.

The punishment from God may be regretfully given, since he still loves all sinners, but the punishment happens nonetheless. Possibly being murdered by God or by his director order, followed by eternal suffering and agony, is a suitable punishment for those who turn away from God. The killing of humans in the bible and throughout history in the name of God are not atrocities, but the proper deliverance of justice. Being punished as such is the choice of every human.

The reward for those that love God is that they are spared the punishment of murder and eternal suffering in hell, and rewarded with God's infinite love, peace, and eternal life with God in heaven. However they must still suffer a human death, in whatever manner that happens to occur, either painful or not.

Talk about a burning bush...

What does it take for someone to recognize, or in this case, disregard a "sign from God"? People seem to look in the most obscure places for a sign from the almighty, or they'll fabricate them from seemingly random circumstances – ANYTHING to feel like they're being communicated with by God and led toward his desires. But I don't know how much more blatant a sign from the heavens can be than a bolt of lightening striking something down like... a 6-story statue of Jesus.

Dayton Daily News: Lightning Strikes Jesus Statue

The evangelical Solid Rock Church who erected the statue in 2004 for a whopping $250,000 has already made a decision to rebuild it, despite it's burning to ashes. If it were caused by arsen, the decision to rebuild would make a bit more sense. However, the statue's demise came from a bolt of lightening – something completely out of the hands of any man.

This story brings two points to mind:

One: Some people will strain their eyes to see Mother Theresa in a cinnamon roll and claim it to be a sign from the heavens.  Or they'll travel thousands of miles to see mold on the side of a barn in the shape of the virgin Mary. The premature death of Heath Ledger is God telling the world that homosexuality remains an abhorrent sin. Signs from God, all of them of course. A way for God to communicate his wishes to his people on earth. Of course. But if he sends a freakin' bolt of lightening into your 6-story statue of Jesus, maybe you should give it a second thought before reconstructing it. These church owners are bound on having this gaudy monstrosity rebuilt, so they're chalking it up to nature, an accident, who knows what. I think this just shows how people will twist any circumstances to either invent or ignore the message of God to fit their agenda.

Two: There is sometimes a bit of debate about whether or not statues are permitted in Christian worship. Some say they're used to simply glorify god/jesus/saints/etc, others say they're actually worshipping these idols and that's wrong. Maybe this statue was a sin, so Jesus himself burned it down. Maybe it was just the fact that the steel reinforcement and lightening have a great relationship. I just find it rather obscene that this church spent $250,000 building this gaudy statue of Jesus, and after it was struck down, they'll probably spend the same quarter million. That's half a million dollars to build a statue, instead of using the money to help the poor, which is essentially what the gospel tells Christians they are supposed to do. In the book of John, men sold their lands, came to Jesus and laid down all their possessions at his feet to follow him. They didn't build 6-story monstrous statues of him.

Now on the other hand, I'm a huge fan of the Sistine Chapel. I've seen it with my own eyes, and it's a breathtaking achievement of mankind to be sure. But it's basically a huge, expensive piece of art created to glorify God. By acknowledging this, I accept that my views toward the statue may be unjustified. But DAMN that thing was just so gaudy almost to the point of silliness! Ok rant over.

A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM A ROBOT

I AM A ROBOT. GOT DID NOT WANT ME TO BE A ROBOT AND LOVE HIM AUTOMATICALLY. HE GAVE ME FREE WILL SO THAT I MAY CHOOSE HIM ON MY OWN. HOWEVER, WHEN I EXERCISE MY FREE WILL BY ASKING QUESTIONS AND SEEKING EVIDENCE, I AM CONDEMNED AND INSTRUCTED TO MERELY HAVE BLIND FAITH AND FOLLOW HIM WITHOUT PROOF.

ADDITIONALLY: HE GIVES ME THE FREE WILL TO CHOOSE, BUT IT IS APPARENT THAT ONLY ONE CHOICE IS AVAILABLE. THAT IS NOT, BY DEFINITION, MUCH OF A CHOICE IS IT.

I WAS ALSO INFORMED THAT GOD MIGHT IN FACT BE A PURPLE UNICORN. SINCE IT IS NOT ADVISED TO SEEK EVIDENCE, I SHALL CONSIDER BELIEVING THIS CLAIM WITH BLIND FAITH AS WELL.

IF GOD GIVES ME THE GIFT OF FREE WILL, LOGIC, INTELLECT, AND CURIOSITY, IS IT NOT AN INSULT TO THESE FINE GIFTS WHEN I DISCARD THEM ALL, BECOME A ROBOT, AND BELIEVE IN HIM WITH BLIND FAITH?

THAT IS ALL.
--- end transmission ---

Taking the Bible word for word

The Bible is supposed to be the infallible word of God. It is supposed to be perfect. However, it was written by man, who is by all means imperfect and corruptible. The content of the Bible was passed down verbally over many centuries, until finally composed as written text. It was edited and altered an unknown number of times throughout many religious communities, and canonized several times by events like the Council of Nicaea and the personal preference of several emperors, kings, and archbishops. It's quite possible that Emperor Constantine so blended the original Christian church with the institutionalized pagan practices of the time that it became almost unrecognizable as the original church established by Jesus. And we'll never know either, because burning the documents of old religions was always a favorite past time of conquering emperors wishing to force their religion onto their new subjects.

Also, some parts of the bible are supposed to be historical – they're a manifest of real events, real people, and real times. Others are supposed to be allegorical – stories or fables, told as a metaphor to convey a specific message or lesson. Unfortunately, the bible only sometimes makes a clear distinction between the two. Other times we just have to guess, but I think more often than not most people lean toward the historical and factual nature of things if it's not clear.

The bible is supposed to be the end-all, tangible embodiment of the Christian faith, and it is supposed to shape your life as a Christian. But how can one be expected to put their whole faith into a book that is imperfect? If it was originally written by God, it was most certainly edited by man later – either by accident, by personal agenda, or by both.

Here's my response: if some of the factual information is contradictory, it could easily be because the people of the time wrote what they knew based on the information available to them at the time. I'm ok with the fact that many of the laws written for the Jews were applicable only to their culture 5,000 years ago, and that maybe they don't apply to us today. I'm not about to sell my daughter off to slavery, and I don't go stand outside the city walls every time I sit near a woman on her period, but if that worked for them then great. I'm ok with the fact that Noah didn't really get EVERY species of animal onto his boat, but he did get every one that he could think of, and to him that was everything, so he told his story that way. Maybe it's not the literal facts that are that important, but the underlying message that we're supposed to be hearing. From what I've heard, the message is this: God is love. Everything else is circumstantial.

But here's the problem: how do we know what's accurate and what's not? If you can accept that Noah didn't actually didn't get every animal on his boat, why can't you shoot the moon and say that maybe Jesus didn't actually come back from the dead? (cue blood boiling at my last comment). And how do we know what laws to follow and what to ignore? Most Christians still consider homosexuality a terrible sin, but they eat shrimp and bacon all day long (mmmmmm... bacon...) It all jeopardizes the validity of the entire book, and hence, the entire faith. It's definitely a paradox that's hard to wrap your brain around.

Somebody throw me a bone here.