Letters by a modern St. Ferdinand III about cults

The Bible is a seminal document in human history for many reasons. Its import lies in the accumulation of morals, ethics, laws, and codes of behavior which far outstrip and are far more relevant than any other ancient social document ever created. The core arguments of the Bible are the basis of modern civilization. The entire cultural-moral outlook of the West has in large measure, whether people realise it or not, been shaped by Biblical injunctions. Yet like the Koran the Bible is laced with absurdity, irrelevancies and supernatural fantasies. It is these components which give critics of Christianity and of religion in general, their ammunition. Simply put the Bible needs a rewriting and an updating. Its essential moral and social program - so vital for freedom, individuality, morality and living - could be summarized in just a few pages. The rest, written by humans with certain agendas, should be ignored.

The critical elements of the Bible were not commonplace during the 1500 years in which humans pieced together the Old and New Testaments. The creation of these documents, of which only a few compose the Bible, marked a step forward in man's spiritual and mental journey. Good behavior, loyalty to family, the injunction to work, hospitality, charity, honesty, spiritual awareness, mental awareness, aiding the poor, compassion and maybe most importantly humility - all these aspects of Jewish teaching were fundamental to building a functioning and modernising society. The idea of a contract with a single higher power, was a decidedly Jewish invention and its importance is not in the literal idea of a benign or wrathful creature or father hiding in the clouds peeking in on human activity, but rather on the inner voice and cognitive-emotional awareness. The Jewish God figure is nothing more than your inner conscience. Humans do know right from wrong if they are nurtured in a proper culture. It is the inner God which should guide activity.

The Jewish Old Testament Bible developed over a thousand years from the time of Moses circa 1450 B.C. to before the birth of Christ. The Christian New Testament was constructed over 300 years from the death of Christ to about 400 A.D. Humans not a God wrote the words, letters, psalms, parables and sayings of both. Christ was of course a Jew, a radical one it can be said who directly challenged the Jewish and Roman social orders, defying the Temple and its rich protectors the Jewish Sadducees, and mocking the so-called monopolistic 'teachings' of the Pharisees, who were in part, a self interested, and self appointed social elite. Nothing in Christ's message of respect and aid to the poor, or in 'God's' demand of humility, morality and faith, was new. Rabbi Hillel a Jew contemporary, had almost exactly the same message and may indeed have even taught Christ. In fact hundreds of teachers were proposing the same program. John the Baptist - later written in by Christian commentators to be Christ's cousin - along with other hermits and eccentrics were engaged in acts of faith and submission through rituals such as water based baptisms or rebirths. Again this was a common though rather esoteric Near Eastern tradition.

Christianity had many competitors after the death of Christ - killed for the Jewish crime of calling himself Ben Yahweh or son of God. Paul and the post-Christ Jewish church turned the radical Jewish nature of Christ's teachings to a universalist message premised on Christ's supposedly obvious and confirmed divinity. Christ was raised to a deity by later writers who propositioned that the miracles, cures, and super natural nature of Christ's acts, as well as his ideas, must have been ordained by a higher power. Thus the actual sayings of Christ were lost by Paul and other New Testament writers, sacrificed to the concepts of other-wordly powers, inescapable divinity and Christ's relationship with an all-knowing God head.

All of the divine aspects of Christ's life were invented. They all follow a very long Near Eastern tradition of at least 4000 years which pre-dates Christ. Other cultures in the area had or have exactly the same super natural constructs as the Christ story. A virgin birth, aligned stars, angels, a life of mystery and magic and a resurrection. In a pre-modern world it might make some sense for a suffering group of people to expect salvation, an end to poverty, hope and freedom from a divinely appointed strong man, leader or mystic. In the 3 - tiered architecture of antiquity it certainly resonated with the illiterate mass. Earth, it was widely believed, was in the middle of Heaven above, and Hell below. Why not have some figures of super natural powers in charge or witnessing daily affairs ? In lieu of science such concepts are appealing.

The problem with the Bible is that it was written by humans trying to build an institution. It is thus a long litany of propaganda designed to impress people with Christ's supernatural powers. The New Testament is largely written by Paul, with some letters attached by other early church leaders such as Timothy, James and John. It is almost entirely devoted to the magical nature of Christ's life and the judgment of some God-father figure to come in the near future. Repent, submit, humble yourself and pray for salvation. This program has a lot in common with Islam's nonsense. Yet it is the least important aspect of the truly important nature of the Bible. Individual salvation comes from the essential moral and social program stated above - not from some fantastical 6000 year old idea of a bearded mystic in the clouds, who like Santa Claus, is deciding who is naughty and who is nice.

Ten reasons - out of a thousand which could be listed - as to why most of the Bible is nonsense:

1. God inspired. The Bible was written by humans over 1500 years. It is a Jewish work. It is full of errors, contradictions and inaccuracies. An all-knowing creature would not create such a document.

2. Jewish centric. Much of the New Testament deals with Jewish problems - in particular the security of a group of people surrounded by enemies. The original God idea was a contract to save the Jews and lead them out of slavery into salvation. Why would a divine being make a pact with one group of people ? The Bible is in most parts a very Jewish oriented and concerned document, with Israel and the 'people' of Israel being constantly refrained. Why would a 'God' only worry about the Hebrews ?

3. Anti-Semitic. Contradictorily many passages in the New Testament blame the Jews for the death of Christ. It was actually the Judeo-Roman elite which killed John the Baptist, Christ, Judas of Gallilee and other 1rst century Jewish radicals. In any event, these passages are used by Christian Jew haters to promote anti-semiticism. Would the Christian 'God' actually support such supremacism ?

4. Anti-female. Parts of the Bible are outlandishly anti-female. In various letters of Paul and Timothy, the female is told to obey - always and without demur - her husband. This hardly sounds like the more open, and progressive parts of the Bible and of Christ's teachings [Mary Magdalene was of course one of his key priests not a whore, as an example], in which the female is to be liberated.

5. Revelations. John an apostle of Christ wrote the stupidity that is called Revelations or the future of the world if it does not submit to Christ worship. According to this embarrassing document within 1000 years of the death of Christ, the anti-Christ would rise up and begin the long series of battles to end the world for the non-believers. Angels, loud trumpets, 10 headed beasts, demi-gods straddling oceans, Christ riding on a cloud, and other fantasies are forwarded as mankind's factual future. It is so absurd that one wonders if John was in any way shape or form, a sane, intelligent man. Keep in mind he wrote other parts of the Bible as well.

6. Jesus' predictions. Christ prophesies repeatedly that in the imminent future the Kingdom of the Father will manifest itself on earth - but only after a series of catastrophes. In Luke and elsewhere he makes the rather inane observation that within a generation the land of Israel will see the signs of the coming of judgment day. Given that Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. a mere 37 years after his death, by Titus, the Roman general and son of emperor Vespasian, this prediction is not so wrong headed. Jewish rebellions and Roman retribution were hardly uncommon. Yet none of the predictors of God's new world order ever manifested themselves making Christ a rather poor prognosticator and a man who was more mystical than rational. Christ might have known that a Jew-Roman confrontation was an easy forecast, but that it would presage a new world God centered order was totally incorrect.

7. Miracles. No documents - none - from a reasonably literate society which kept all manners of records from births to land exchanges, confirms any of Christ's so-called miracles. Raising the dead, walking on the Sea of Galilee, stopping storms, curing various ailments - all these and more have no corroboration. If these miracles did actually occur than someone, somewhere would have recorded them. As it is we only have Paul's letters and the 4 Gospels written by Christ's devotees to go on. Why should anyone believe the followers of a certain teacher when they claim divinely inspired acts ?

8. Jewish miracle tradition. Christ's life was rewritten by Paul and his followers. All of Christ's life is made to fit in with the heroic Jewish-Messiah tradition. Everything from his virgin birth to his ascension to 'heaven' comes right out of a 1400 year Jewish belief system. Tying Christ to Bethlehem for example when he was born in Nazareth, is to reconfirm the line of King David, perhaps the greatest of Jewish leaders, to give Christ instant credibility.

9. Virgin birth. There are many aspects of the Christ story which can and should be pulled apart and criticised, but none is more ridiculous than the idea that a woman called Mary, who had 6 children in total, somehow gave a virgin birth to one of them. Joseph, her husband, is another made up character. Most likely he is inserted by post Christ writers to give Mary, a woman who likely had children from a few men, a pastiche of respectability. Again the idea of a divine birth can be found throughout the ancient world, but all it achieves is to make its believers appear as irrational and as credulous as those who wrote about it.

10. Resurrection. Like Elijah Christ was suppose to ascend to heaven, which would confirm for the early Christian church, his divine and messianic status. Of course no ascension occurred. Most likely his body was thrown into the common burial pit outside the city wall's - like anyone else who was crucified for treason. In any event the resurrection was a metaphorical idea not intentioned to be applied to reality. In the Jewish tradition your soul can live on, if you live within the 'law' or Torah, and lead a life of good works and morality. This allegorical resurrection is turned into an actual journey to the 'Father' by Paul and others. Again you have to question not only the integrity of the writer, but his connection to reality.

For these and many other reasons the Bible has ceased to mean that much in the modern world. Christians would do themselves a huge favor by disavowing the insipid notion that a Jew born in Nazareth is our collective savior. Get rid of the Bible. It is outdated. Summarize the essential social and moral ideas in a new document. Create a new church ethos connected to the real world. Christ had important things to say, but he was not a God, there is no 'Father' who is going to save you, and there is no Heaven and no Hell. Only reality and your life.