Dear Banjo,

The presence of Jesus in Christianity is difficult for me to understand. If he is divine Christianity is polytheistic. My understanding of monotheism is that it is the belief in one god, complete in himself. If there is another divine presence then the religion is not monotheistic. However, my understanding of the Christian God is also that He is omniscient and omnipotent. If he needs a mediator or another presence then He is not omniscient and omnipotent. The presence of Jesus as far as I can see is due to the fact that the early Christians wanted a humanoid god like those of the Greeks and Romans.

It would seem to me that worship of Jesus is a violation of the first commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Praying to Jesus puts another deity before God.

WE KNOW..THAT WHEN WE READ ANYTHING
we get intO THE..mind..of the reader
but its more than just that..we get to see the imagry..that 'inspired'..the writing.

sO WHEN...i see mary..and the holy spirit
im reminded of the 'ye shalt call him emmanu'el'
god with us..[god within us sustaining all life its living]

what happened to mary..is what happens to us all
except usually the holy spirit..COMES IN VIA A MAN[OR OF LATE A TURKEY BASTER]..OR A TEST TUBE..thing is..it is as was written/by the minds eye as they saw it/

lets go back to mosus
QUOTE..<<..I>>t would seem to me that worship of Jesus is a violation of the first commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Praying to Jesus puts another deity before God...>>

THAT CAME DIRECTLY..FROM MOSUS
WHO SAW THE LAW..inscribed upon tablets of stone
and for a long time..that was the only way..to look upon the face of god

[see me see my father]
but rev-elation since christ..we learn of the holy spirit
as separate from god[the sun]..and separate from jesus the sun of god

the point being we are splitting hairs
yes the sun=one with the holy spirit

yes the sun/is and angry god..[on occasion]..
and yes we all will in time become suns of the father/but even now are suns of the sun..as much as sons of god.

yes i and the father and the wholly spirit are wun
TO SEE ME..IS TO SEE THAT THE WORK OF THE WHOLLY HOLY ONE IS DONE.

[as one via his number one son]..
AS ONE UNDER/GOD..[we cant take anything of man..AS true..
OR FABLE..AND OU/god don't like INSANITY QUALITY certainty..
[its the first Tactic of the igno-rant]..SO SURE/SO CERTAIN..THE 3 AR'NT AS ONE/..yet..EXPECTING THE PAST CAN BE UNDONE...

the same handicaps follow everyone.

its too late to ask THE AUTHOR TO EXPLAIN
ONCE THE WRITTEN WORD..COMES UNDONE..its just part and parcel..of further fun

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Dear david f.,

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Yes David, I suspect there are a number of discrepancies and contradictions to be found in Christian dogma and in the bible if we were to go over them with a fine-tooth comb.

Please be assured, however, that I am no expert and certainly have no intention of wasting my time on that.

Suffice it to say, so far as the subject I was treating is concerned, that voluntary insemination between a married person (Mary) and someone/something/or some “entity” (such as the Holy ghost, for example), other than her lawful spouse, Joseph, is called adultery.

I may be wrong but I don’t think that that was looked upon very kindly at the time (nine months before year one) by the local community at Bethlehem.

The Old Testament (Hebrew bible) was written well before the conception of Jesus and it strongly advises against adultery.

Adultery is not something it considers to be acceptable practice either for a good Jew or for a good Christian – so it seems.

It’s hands and eyes off your neighbour’s property whatever it is : house, wife, children, male or female slave, servant, ox, donkey, sheep, goats, dogs, chickens . You name it. It doesn’t specifically mention introducing your semen into your neighbour’s wife’s ovaries, but I’m pretty sure that’s out of bounds too.

Anyhow, I for one, should not have wanted to take a risk on it in those days. Some of those village people were pretty good at throwing stones and rocks and would have jumped at the occasion.

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Dear Banjo Paterson,

You wrote: "It’s hands and eyes off your neighbour’s property whatever it is : house, wife, children, male or female slave, servant, ox, donkey, sheep, goats, dogs, chickens . You name it. It doesn’t specifically mention introducing your semen into your neighbour’s wife’s ovaries, but I’m pretty sure that’s out of bounds too."

Behaviour of God or Gods is not subject to rules or commandments. If we were to judge God by the standards by which we are supposed to behave, he is evil. He destroyed almost all life on earth during flood. He commanded Joshua to commit genocide. In the New Testament he arranged to have his "only begotten son" subjected to agonizing torture. The God of the Bible is not someone I would want to associate with unless it would be to try to reform that evil entity. The God described in the Bible is simply unworthy of worship or any kind of respect.

i agree..david..the god in the bible..is the sun
and yes the sun..can burn/do harsh things

but both atheist and theists can accept the truth
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=6326&page=0

but after all..god [the sun]is only human
ALLOWING US TO BECOME..evolve..into..HUMANE
http://rss.infowars.com/20140407_Mon_Alex.mp3

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Dear david f.,

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The oldest known list of New Testament books, known as the Muratorian Fragment which the American biblical scholar, Bruce M. Metzger, refers to as “the canon of the New Testament”, dates from about 170 AD and was written by an unidentified author.

I understand that 94% of the New Testament was written by two people: Saul of Tarsus and his close associate (and probable disciple) Luke the physician, whom Saul had taken along with him as a legal expert on most of his missionary journeys. Two thirds were written by Saul and 28% by Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke (the longest book of the New Testament) and the book of Acts.

The New Testament and Christianity were essentially the creation of one individual : Saul of Tarsus. But if it were not for Constantine, the Roman emperor, who assured Its subsequent promotion and widespread adoption, it would probably have remained just another sect before disappearing like most other sects at the time.

Constantine established tolerance for Christianity by the edict of Milan in 313, personally converted to Christianity, elevated the sect to a religion with full powers and privileges and promulgated Christian laws. The state church of the Roman Empire was established on 27 February 380 with the Edict of Thessalonica, when Emperor Theodosius I made Nicene Christianity the Empire's sole authorized religion.

Saul had a long history of religious fanaticism. He participated in the stoning to death of the first Christian martyr, Etienne, then became a rabbi before having an illumination and converting to Christianity. He was a tent maker by profession. His life was marked by physical violence, pain, illness and self-flagellation – to such an extent that he seemed to have masochistic tendencies, detesting himself and the human condition, while glorifying the virtues of obedience and submission.

For Saul, religion appears to have been the sublimation of the death impulse which haunted him all his life. It obsessed him and consumed him. Nero put him out of his misery by decapitating him in Rome in the year 64.

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