Some Random Thoughts on Religion

Some Random Thoughts on Religion

Thomas Allen

Below the Bible is summarized in two sentences. Also discussed are two views of the Bible, the lack of clarity of the New Testament, the rapture, the sin of omission, the greatest sin, God’s love, hate, the love of money, Noah, and the wisdom of John (not the Biblical John). These are mostly observations.

The Bible in Two Sentences
The Bible is the story of God revealing Himself first through one biological race (or species of humans), the Aryan or White race, then through one family, Abraham through his grandson Jacob, which became the nation of Israel, and finally through one man, Jesus. All other nations and people mentioned in the Bible are merely a supporting cast in God’s process of revealing Himself through Jesus, His Messiah and Son.

Two Views of the Bible
Christians fall into two camps. One believes that anything that the Bible does not expressly forbid is allowed. In secular terms, they favor the Anglo-Saxon legal system: Anything that the government does not specifically prohibit is allowed, and a person is innocent until proven guilty.
The other camp believes that anything that the Bible does not command or expressly allow is forbidden. In secular terms, they favor the Napoleonic-civil-code legal system: Anything that the government does not specifically allow is prohibited, and a person is guilty until proven innocent. Of course, both camps hold that whatever the Bible commands is obligatory.

Lack of Clarity in the New Testament
The writers of the New Testament failed in writing with clarity. If their writing were clear, disagreement over various doctrines would be much less or nonexistent. Two examples illustrating the confusion that the unclear writing of the New Testament has caused are soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) and eschatology (the doctrine of the end of time, the Second Advent, and the final judgment).
First is salvation. Is salvation by predestination, faith only, faith plus works, or other means? All have their proponents who defined their doctrine with vigor. Further, some claim that once a person is saved, he cannot lose his salvation no matter what he later does. Yet, other claim that a saved person can lose his salvation. Moreover, disagreement occurs over the salvific effects of baptism, the proper form of baptism, and infant baptism.
Second is eschatology. There are several interpretations of Revelation: preterist, historical, apocalyptic, and futurist. Preterists interpret Revelation as describing the events taking place during the lifetime of John and in his environment (full preterists) or that most of these events occurred during the lifetime of John (partial preterists). Historicists interpret Revelation as revealing history from the time of Jesus until the Second Advent and beyond. Apocalypticist or idealists interpret Revelation as a religious philosophy of life.
Futurists interpret Revelation as describing the future, primarily the time immediately preceding the Second Advent and the millennium. Futurists fall into several camps: pretribulation (the rapture occurs before the seven years of tribulation), mid-tribulation (the rapture occurs in the middle of the tribulation), and post-tribulation (the rapture occurs at the end of the tribulation). Others teach that no rapture will occur. Also, there are premillennialists (Jesus’ Second Advent occurs before the  Millennium), post-millennialists (Jesus’ Second Advent occurs after the Millennium), and amillennialists (rejects the notion that Jesus physically rules on earth for a thousand years).
Does God enjoy watching men arguing about the correct interpretation of the Bible and even killing those who disagree with their interpretation? He must because He had His writers write with enough vagueness to cause bloody disputes. If that were not His purpose, He could have had His writers write with enough clarity to avoid such disputes.
Some old-time reform preachers declared that nothing brought God as much joy as tormenting sinners in Hell forever. They were wrong. God’s greatest joy seems to be watching His people arguing and fighting over what the Bible says.

Rapture
One thing is amusing about people who predict the date of the rapture, often down to the hour or minute. After the big day passes, the predictor finds that he is still on planet Earth. Immediately, he assumes that his calculation was wrong, and some redo the calculation. Never does it occur to the predictor that his calculation was correct — he was just among those left behind.
Another amusing thing about the rapture is the believers who sell all their property before the big day. Why? Do they plan to take the money with them? Do they plan to use the money for one big going away party?

Sin of Omission
Many clergymen teach the “sin of omission.” That is, if a person knows someone in need and he has the ability to help the needy person and does not, then he is guilty of the sin of omission. If true, then these clergymen have accused God of being the greatest sinner in the universe. Being omniscience God knows everyone’s needs. Being omnipotent, God has the ability to eliminate those needs. Since He does not (all the suffering in the world would immediately vanish if He did), God is guilty of the sin of omission. If these clergymen claim that God is not guilty of the sin of omission, then they hold their fellow man to a much higher standard than they hold God.
If the sin of omission exists, more evidence that God is the greatest sinner of all is natural disasters. Being omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, He can prevent them and all the heartache and destruction that such disasters bring people. If a human can prevent someone from suffering from a natural disaster and does not, would he be guilty of the sin of omission? If so, the clergyman who makes such a claim holds God to a much lower standard than he holds his fellow man.

The Greatest Sin
What is the greatest sin of all? It is a sin so great that God does not allow it to exist anywhere in the universe. This sin is unquestionable, unhesitating, and unadulterated cooperation from all deities, angelic and spiritual beings, people, animals, plants, weather, mother nature, machines, things, etc., etc., etc.

God’s Love
If earthly parents expressed their love for their children the way that the Heavenly Father expresses His love for His children, they would have their children taken from them because of their cruelty and abuse. Furthermore, the parents would spend the remainder of their lives in prison. To love their children the way that God loves His, parents would beat their children until they looked like roadkill. Then, they would expect their children to thank them for not making their lives more miserable. At least, this is the impression that many Christians give of God’s love.  (Notice how God’s love connects with the sin of omission and the sin of cooperation.)

Hate
Most clergymen teach that Christians should not hate. However, God hates. Should a Christian hate whatever and whomever God hates?

Love of Money
1 Timothy 6:10 reads, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. . . .”  Except for misers, who really loves money per se? Nearly all who lust after money do not love money itself. They lust after money for what they can exchange it, i.e., for what they really desire: power, security, fame, lovers, big houses, fancy cars, status, etc. Money is just a means to an end.

Noah
I have concluded that Noah is the most selfish man in the Bible. He possessed not one altruistic bone in his body and only thought about saving his own scrawny hide. If he cared one bit about his decedents and fellow man, he would have refused to take black flies, fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and all those other useless bloodsuckers on the ark.

Wisdom of John
I used to listen to a religious radio program hosted by John, whose last name I do recall and who died in 2012. He made two memorable comments. (1) He said that the quickest way to be thrown out of a church is to ask questions about its doctrine. (2) He was convinced that Christianity was the true religion because it has survived two thousand years of Christians.

Copyright © 2019 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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