Murder, Trump Said

In Flanders Fields

“Cast the first stone!” (And other stories added to the Bible.)

by Horus Gilgamesh

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone…” - Jesus

This was always one of my favorite Bible stories – a rogue hero full of compassion, courage, and conviction, going against the status quo to rescue a damsel in distress. It is truly one of the most dramatic examples of Jesus’ defined sense of morality and worthiness as a leader of men and I don’t think a day goes by that someone doesn’t quote this passage from John 8 to me as a reminder to not to judge others. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this passage: it’s not actually Biblical.

Contrary to surprisingly popular belief, the Bible did not just appear out of thin air one day. It was hand-crafted over many centuries by many different men with many different audiences and agendas. Eventually, councils of men (who, like the authors of the books in question, had no first-hand knowledge of the life of Jesus) were formed to decide which of these writings were worthy of being part of the canon. Many books were tossed out, some sought out, in order to establish what we now consider the Holy Bible, the Good Book, the Word of God!

However, the editing didn’t stop with the councils. Rulers, priests and lowly scribes have always had a hand in massaging the text to fit the needs of the day. Don’t like the way Jesus got angry with a leper for asking to be healed? Easy – just change one word from ‘anger’ to ‘compassion.’ Suddenly notice that there is no explicit mention of the trinity anywhere in the most authentic (earliest) Greek texts?

Simple – just convince a scholarly pawn of the powerful church to add it to the next version in the 1500s. Need a dramatic story to show Jesus as a hero in the face of authority, saving a poor girl from the hands of the wicked Pharisees? Well, that brings us to this interesting passage – the Pericope Adulterae. (John 7:53, 8:1-11)

There are very few scholars who believe the story of Jesus saving the adulterous woman to be authentic – for many reasons. First and foremost, it doesn’t exist in the oldest, most authentic manuscripts. That’s right – it is simply not found in the earliest copies of the Gospel of John. Second, the style of writing and language is quite noticeably different from the rest of the Gospel of John. Third, it is somewhat sloppily inserted right in the middle of the story of the Feast of the Tabernacles that begins with John 7:1 before being abruptly cut off by the Pericope Adulterae, eventually to resume again with John 8:12 through 9:7.

But, let’s get back to the first point: it doesn’t exist anywhere in the oldest manuscripts! It does appear in the Codex Benzae from the 5th century, what I often refer to as Bible 2.0, a manuscript filled with other oddities; the longer ending to the book of Mark, the complete absence of John 5:4, and the book of Acts being considerably longer than other manuscripts of the day. Even alongside the Codex Benzae were other manuscripts that explicitly questioned the validity of this passage. This leads us to ask many questions:

• Who added it centuries later and why?
• If we know that it was added much later, why is it still in the Bible?
• Why do only a few Bibles include a tiny footnote that says, “Some manuscripts do not include this passage”?
• Why do the majority of churches still teach this as a major story in the ministry of Jesus?
• How did this story become traditionally attributed to Mary Magdalene, when no name is given?
• What other parts of the Bible were added by scribes and rulers after the canon was formed?

BONUS: Don’t even get me started on why only the woman caught in adultery is being punished as an example. (Does it not take two to tango? Where is the man?)

But, most of all – why do Christians love to quote this story anytime it might help them avoid the judgment of others, yet remain completely unaware of the considerable problems with its authenticity? To me, all of these questions are now worth asking.

SIDE NOTE: For those who might argue, “But there was probably a good reason that it was removed from the earliest and most authentic manuscripts – they didn’t want it to look like Jesus was permissive of adultery,” I’d ask – isn’t that the same problem? Letting man decide what is really God’s word because of the wants of the day?

About Horus Gilgamesh
Once a devout Christian ministry leader, Horus Gilgamesh encourages readers from all faiths to open their Bibles and think critically for themselves, perhaps for the first time since childhood.

 Source:
“Cast the first stone!” (And other stories added to the Bible.)

http://awkwardmomentsbible.com/order/

There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Friday Funnies

The Hillary Myth

by Fred Barnes

Hillary Clinton sounds like Paul Ryan on the economy. She says she’s for "strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth." She would abandon the slow-growth economics of President Obama and return us to those wonderful days in the 1990s when husband Bill was in charge. This is a different Hillary Clinton from the one we've seen in debates with Bernie Sanders, her socialist rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. It's the centrist-at-heart Clinton whom conservatives and Republicans eager for an acceptable alternative to Donald Trump can vote for.

Hillary Clinton sounds like Paul Ryan on the economy. She says she’s for "strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth." She would abandon the slow-growth economics of President Obama and return us to those wonderful days in the 1990s when husband Bill was in charge. This is a different Hillary Clinton from the one we've seen in debates with Bernie Sanders, her socialist rival for the Democratic presidential nomination. It's the centrist-at-heart Clinton whom conservatives and Republicans eager for an acceptable alternative to Donald Trump can vote for.

An element of the Hillary myth is that she's on the same wavelength as her husband. She's not. He cut the capital gains rate from 28 percent to 20 percent, sparking the economic boom of his second term. He fought hard to enact the North American Free Trade Agreement. She attacks NAFTA and opposes the new Pacific trade treaty she once championed as the "gold standard" of free trade. Bill Clinton pushed through welfare reform that dramatically reduced poverty and welfare dependency. She would expand welfare with a new subsidy for child care and much more. And rather than defend his 1994 crime bill, she apologizes for it.

Read the rest here:
The Hillary Myth | The Weekly Standard

Hump Day Hunnies

Articles: What Does Fair Share (in Taxes) Mean?

By Richard Winchester

 

What do left-wing Democrats such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders have in mind when they demand that wealthy Americans pay their “fair share” in taxes? 

Demanding that the rich pay their fair share in taxes is part of the age-old Democrat Party playbook that uses class warfare to acquire and hold power. It conveys the presumption that the big-money types are unfairly gaming the tax code so they don’t have to pony-up to Uncle Sam’s coffers on April 15th.

Sadly, this ploy often succeeds, probably because leftists are seldom asked to specify what they mean when they demand somebody pay a fair share in taxes.

Thomas Sowell took a step in the right direction in an essay posted on Nationalreview.com last October 21st. He opened by noting that people who demand the rich pay their fair share do not specify what either the rich or fair share mean. Essentially, Sowell stated, fair share means, simply, “more.”

Sowell made two important points. First, when governments raise income taxes on the wealthy, such as Maryland did in 2012, tax revenues actually fell, because many wealthy people left the state. On the other hand, when U.S. governments in the 1920s (Coolidge), 1960s (JFK/LBJ), 1980s (Reagan), and in 2001 (Bush #43) have lowered income tax rates, the result has been increased revenues.

Sowell concluded, nevertheless, that cries to “soak the rich” have worked again and again, and may also succeed in 2016. That’s probably because terms like the rich and fair share are used “not to convey facts or even allegations of facts, but simply to arouse emotions.” As he noted, cries to soak the rich are “one of the many signs of the mindlessness of our times...”

Read more:
Articles: What Does Fair Share (in Taxes) Mean?

The Religious Right | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

Enjoy Your Transgender Bathrooms. We Just Lost America.

The Statue of Liberty front shot, on Liberty Island. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Kyle S. Reyes

While you were fighting over who should use what bathrooms at Target, we lost our country.
While you were arguing with coworkers over who would leave the country first if Trump/Clinton were elected, the “American Dream” perished.
Don’t believe me? Then perhaps ALL is lost. And I can prove it all to you through the eyes of a child.

The screens around our house in the past couple of weeks stand in stark contrast to what’s in front of them.
The television … the laptops … the iPads … the cell phones … filled with images of the attacks around the world. Day in and day out, we hear stories about “refugees” pouring into the United States. Broadcast are the sounds of tone-deaf leaders. Of anger. Of hatred. Of hurt. Of fear.
In front of those screens runs our little daughter. Just over a year old, she’s the greatest blessing a young family can have. She’s filled with innocence, love, joy and our hopes for the future.
- See more at: http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/#sthash.XKeYjcOv.dpuf

While you were fighting over who should use what bathrooms at Target, we lost our country.

While you were arguing with coworkers over who would leave the country first if Trump/Clinton were elected, the “American Dream” perished.

Don’t believe me? Then perhaps ALL is lost. And I can prove it all to you through the eyes of a child.

The screens around our house in the past couple of weeks stand in stark contrast to what’s in front of them.

The television … the laptops … the iPads … the cell phones … filled with images of the attacks around the world. Day in and day out, we hear stories about “refugees” pouring into the United States. Broadcast are the sounds of tone-deaf leaders. Of anger. Of hatred. Of hurt. Of fear.

In front of those screens runs our little daughter. Just over a year old, she’s the greatest blessing a young family can have. She’s filled with innocence, love, joy and our hopes for the future.

But there was a lull in the media noise on Sunday when we attended Mass. Our priest usually preaches about love. Faith. Hope. But there was a different dynamic this week.

There was a different energy.

This time, he talked about the end of times.

Our priest is far from being an alarmist. Just the opposite. But this particular Mass, he spoke deeply and heavily about being prepared. “For we know not the hour … ”

He wasn’t trying to frighten people. But he also understood that he couldn’t be tone-deaf to the deep concerns of his flock.

It’s hard not to be afraid. It’s hard not to have an underlying anxiety. It’s hard not to wonder and pray over whether your children will have the same opportunities you did.

Growing up, I paid close attention in history class. And I’ve always felt a very deep sense of patriotism. I’ve always felt great respect for my country and believed that if, God forbid, we ever faced World War III, America would once again triumph.

Perhaps my fear, and the anxiety of so many others, is that we were wrong.

We were wrong because of one simple line that I believe may have been written wrong. It should have read, “One Nation, Divisible After All.”

Have we ever faced a time when our country was so polarized? Have we ever faced enemies so dangerous? Have we ever been on such a precipice that a frightening and painful energy radiated through each of us, tying us together in some disturbing, unifying, powerful and yet simultaneously divisive way?

I’m angered to see that we live in a country where we have gone soft. We’ve become hypocrites, and we’ve become pansies.

We forget that our grandfathers stormed beaches to protect freedom. Instead, we demand that the freedom now come in the form of a shelter from hearing words we don’t like.

We flip out because our $7 coffee comes in a red cup.

We cancel concerts and cost people jobs because we don’t agree with a law that the people of the state passed.

We care more about protecting where someone can take a leak than we care about the safety of our children. OUR CHILDREN.

We give out trophies to kids who come in 8th place. Eighth freaking place.

We dig up the graves of people who have been dead for a hundred-plus years because they had something to do with the Confederate flag, and that offends someone NOW.

We say we hate what Democrats have done to the country, so we elect a House and Senate full of Republicans who proceed to also place THEIR heads up their collective asses as well. It seems as if both parties forgot what they were supposed to be doing and whom they are supposed to be representing.

We pick sides and parties and teams and defend them to the ends of the Earth, ignoring the facts, pointing the fingers and hoping someone else will cover the cost of our skyrocketing and borderline pointless health insurance.

We talk about the number of homeless vets who we have to feed and clothe and house when it’s convenient for us to leverage them like pawns in a game – yet tomorrow, so many will forget to feed and clothe and house them.

We ignore the simple facts about our dangerously open borders and the lack of a vetting process for refugees, then we stand in horror as ISIS attacks and we ask our politicians how they could have let this happen. And then, of course, we put a fast lane in for more to cross the border.

We put in place more gun laws to prevent the bad guys from doing bad things. Because for some reason, we believe that bad guys give a damn about laws and that giving them an open shooting range on a military base or school campus will somehow protect our citizens. But then we completely ignore the massive problem of mental health in this country. We’re more worried about the tool than we are the person.

We cry out that police are our enemies … and then we beg them to protect us from the likes of ISIS.

We celebrate court rulings with rainbow flags that speak volumes about how far we’ve come and how inclusive we are as Americans … then we tell our neighbors to remove their American flags and stop saying “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah” because it offends us.

We send billions of dollars overseas to help the homeless in impoverished and war-torn nations while we cut the funding for our own food banks and homeless programs.

We get into fistfights about “under-inflated balls” while gorging ourselves on beer and wings at football games … while millions of Americans wonder how they’re going to pay their mortgage and put food on the table for their families.

We fight tooth and nail over whether someone dying of stage four pancreatic cancer should be allowed to use medical marijuana while drugs like heroin are running rampant in our schools.

We teach kids that there should be no boys section or girls section at the store, but our kids notice that we won’t sit down with our neighbor for a beer because they have a different skin color and we’re too busy fighting over what is and isn’t racism.

We hold massive rallies demanding $15/hour for flipping burgers … but we sit quietly on the sidelines when our men and women protecting our country who make $11/hour aren’t getting paid because Congress is debating their funding.

We change our profile pictures to colors that represent solidarity with a country that was attacked by terrorists … then we attack our neighbors for being concerned that the same could happen here.

We’re terribly focused on what matters to us as individuals. Marriage. Cell phones. Birth control. On and on and on. We’re so worried about what matters to “me” that we forgot that in order for us to have a “me” … we have to first have an “us.” A safe “us.” A unified “us.” An “us” that can at least find some kind of middle ground.

Tomorrow is a new day. So tonight, before bed, we pray … just a little harder, perhaps, than we’ve prayed before.

We put our daughter to sleep and shut off the television. The internet. The phones. The iPads. All screens but the black and white monitor where we can see nothing but innocence. And for a moment, just one fleeting, precious moment, we’re once again one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

While you were fighting over who should use what bathrooms at Target, we lost our country.
While you were arguing with coworkers over who would leave the country first if Trump/Clinton were elected, the “American Dream” perished.
Don’t believe me? Then perhaps ALL is lost. And I can prove it all to you through the eyes of a child.

The screens around our house in the past couple of weeks stand in stark contrast to what’s in front of them.
The television … the laptops … the iPads … the cell phones … filled with images of the attacks around the world. Day in and day out, we hear stories about “refugees” pouring into the United States. Broadcast are the sounds of tone-deaf leaders. Of anger. Of hatred. Of hurt. Of fear.
In front of those screens runs our little daughter. Just over a year old, she’s the greatest blessing a young family can have. She’s filled with innocence, love, joy and our hopes for the future.
- See more at: http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/#sthash.XKeYjcOv.dpuf

Kyle S. Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He’s also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can find him on Facebook and LinkedIn. - See more at: http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/#sthash.XKeYjcOv.dpuf

Kyle S. Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He’s also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can find him on Facebook and LinkedIn. Posted with permission of the author.

Kyle S. Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He’s also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can find him on Facebook and LinkedIn. - See more at: http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/#sthash.XKeYjcOv.dpuf

Kyle S. Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He’s also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can find him on Facebook and LinkedIn. - See more at: http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/#sthash.XKeYjcOv.dpuf

Enjoy your transgender bathrooms. We just lost America. | NewBostonPost

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Friday Funnies

What Does Quantum Mechanics Suggest About Our Perceptions of Reality?

Quantum mechanics suggests that we perceive at most a tiny sliver of reality. Of course we already
knew that! We knew that the visible spectrum is only a small part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. We knew that the universe is much, much larger than our ancestors believed.  And we already knew that we are made of things that are too small for our eyes to see. So how is it news that we only perceive a tiny sliver of reality?

It’s news because quantum mechanics says that the part of reality that we do not perceive is radically different than the part of the world that we do perceive. The difference is so profound that we still don’t fully understand how to talk about quantum reality. There doesn’t seem to be any direct analogy between quantum reality and the reality we perceive with our senses.

Before I explain the gap between our perceptions and reality, I want to state that I completely disagree with the idea that quantum mechanics forces us to accept an idealist view of reality. Idealism says that the physical universe is made out of our perceptions – in other words, out of spiritual reality.  Several early interpreters of quantum mechanics thought that it supported this idealistic understanding of reality. Why would they have thought this? The reason, quite simply, is that they didn’t know how to cope with the issue of quantum indeterminacy.

Quantum indeterminacy is the unavoidable fact that not all quantities can simultaneously have determinate values.  For example, if an electron has a location, then it simply has no speed – it is neither at rest, nor is it moving slowly, nor is it moving quickly.  There simply is no fact of the matter about its state of motion.  Similarly, if an electron is in a definite state of motion, then it’s not in any particular place – not here, nor there, nor anywhere.

Let’s be completely clear about what we’re saying here.  We are not just saying that if you know the position of the electron, then you don’t know whether or not it’s moving.  We’re saying that if the electron has some position, then it does not have any state of motion.  What could this possibly mean?  Nobody is quite sure.

But the story gets more interesting.  Whenever a conscious observer tries to determine the position of the electron, she will always finds that it does indeed have a position.  Similarly, whenever a conscious observer tries to determine the state of motion of an electron, she will always find that it does indeed have some particular state of motion.  If these facts weren’t true, then we wouldn’t be able to test the predictions of quantum mechanics! So how are we to reconcile the fact that sometimes the electron doesn’t have a position with the fact that, whenever we look, it does have a position?

Some quantum pioneers, such as Heisenberg and Wigner, thought that the act of “looking” caused the electron to take on a definite state of motion, or a definite position.  And then it wasn’t much of a further leap for them to suggest that, before anybody looks, there wasn’t any electron.  If that were the case, then physical reality is brought into existence by our acts of perception.

Read more:
What Does Quantum Mechanics Suggest About Our Perceptions of Reality? | BQO

Hump Day Hunnies

Illegal Aliens Have A List Of 10 DEMANDS That They Say The American People Better Grant - John Hawkins

I’m gonna need you to sit down while reading, so you can fathom the absurdity that comes with the .
demands that Illegal immigrants want from America

Their first right is for illegal immigrants to not be called ‘illegal’ or ‘alien.’ The document states: “Acknowledgement that we are already here, that we are human beings with a right to be, that our mere presence cannot be deemed illegal or our existence alien.”

Trust us. We already know you’re here. That’s why we’re having this conversation. It’s not your presence that is illegal, is the part that you illegally waltzed into a country and demanded that you didn’t have to follow the proper protocol to become a citizen. If you live here, then you have to follow the laws like most other people. People who don’t follow laws are criminals.

The second in the list demands that illegal immigrants be treated with dignity and respect.

You broke the law and cost America’s tax payers over 100 billion per year. Just because you save a few bucks with really, really, good cheap labor, that doesn’t negate the fact that you broke a law. Just get the paperwork and everything is OK.

Their third “right” consists of being guaranteed a path to US citizenship. It reads: “Recognition of our right to be presented with a path to citizenship/residency as the first priority of future immigration policy combined with interim deferment of all law-abiding Undocumented Americans against detention and deportation.”

I can see this working out for people who are already here. Think about the kids – it doesn’t make sense to uproot the little ones and take them through nonsense just to prove a point. If an illegal immigrant is in the process of paperwork, that’s fine. It’s progress in the right direction.

The fourth “right” demands US birth certificates for illegal immigrants’ children born in the US.

This is fine if the parent gains citizenship.

Their fifth “right” says that deportation can be an act of “cruel and unusual punishment.” It reads: “Protection against cruel and unusual punishment, including the separation of our immediate families and incarceration without charges, hearings, or representation.”

I agree with this because it could cause trauma for the kids. However, the parents should’ve thought of that. I will agree to this IF the parents are securing citizenship and follow through with it in a respectable amount of time.

Read the rest here:
Illegal Aliens Have A List Of 10 DEMANDS That They Say The American People Better Grant | John Hawkins' Right Wing News

The Vicious Snake

Death Cult Christianity

By John Zande | 6 September 2013
The Superstitious Naked Ape

Few Christians will admit it because few Christians even recognise it, but they are members of a Death Cult; a degenerate, death-anxious, exclusively fatalistic religion that has since the Hammer of the Arians (Bishop Hilary of Poitiers) predicted the mass liquidation of all earthly species in 365 CE produced a continuous supply of socially derelict luminaries who’ve longed for nothing short of the total and complete annihilation of our home world. Now, granted, like an awkward uncle it’s something most liberal churches try not to bellow about from the pulpit, but let there be no doubt, Christianity (like Judaism and Islam) is an anticipatory religion; a sect almost wholly fixated on the expectations (and apprehension) of a single and supposedly inescapable future event: the apocalypse detailed in John’s Revelation where all but “saved” Christians (perhaps as few as 144,000) will be butchered by the Middle Eastern Christian god… and it’s a bloodbath many Christian captains have been (and still are today) simply giddy about.

Just a decade after Bishop Hilary’s fatalistic proclamation Martin of Tours pronounced that the heavenly holocaust was at hand (375 CE). For the trireme of morose hopelessness embodied in Hippolytus of Rome, Sextus Julius Africanus and Saint Irenaeus it was 500 CE when the Christian god was going to obliterate everything from toddlers to tea leaves.

For the Spanish monk, Beatus of Liébana, it was the 6th of April 793. Pope Sylvester II and Cardinal John of Toledo named 1186 as the year the Christian god was going commit its radiant genocide. Joachim of Fiore fingered 1260, then 1290 and finally 1335. 1284 was the date for the glorious massacre according to Pope Innocent III, 1378 for Arnaldus de Villa Nova, the 20th of February 1524 for Johannes Stöffler (later revised up to 1528), and the 27th of May 1528 for the Anabaptist, Hans Hut, who apart from getting his prediction of the end of the world horribly wrong holds the rather unusual distinction of being perhaps the only person in history to be executed a day after in fact dying.

The mathematician and monk, Michael Stifel, was quite specific saying 500 million innocent men, women and children, together with millions of equally innocent species would be willfully put to death at precisely 8am on the 19th October 1533. For Jan Matthys it was 1534, 1555 for Pierre d’Ailly, 1585 for Michael Servetus, and 1600 when Martin Luther hoped the earth would be destroyed in a cataclysmic blast of resplendent carnage. 1794 was the year the Methodist, Charles Wesley, was certain god was going to wreak heavenly havoc on all creatures. His brother, John, fingered 1836, but for the Jehovah Witnesses 1914 was the year they were positively convinced the world would be put to the saintly torch. When it didn’t they simply dusted themselves off, pulled up their socks, and went on to name 1915, then 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975, and finally 1994 as sequentially erroneous dates for their Christian god to commit its rapturous mass murder.

The Baptist minister, William Miller, was sure our world would be blissfully annihilated on the 21st of March 1843; a date amended on the 22nd of March to the 18th of April, only to be revised again on the 19th to the 22nd of October 1844, which came and went without as much as a godly sneeze.

The Methodist, Joanna Southcott, was certain her Christian god would annihilate everything on the 19th of October 1814, and Joseph Smith got his prediction of the end of the world fabulously wrong when 1891 passed to 1892 and children were still playing under the sun.

For Jim Jones it was 1967. Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God wanted it all to end in 1936, then 1943, and finally 1975. Leland Jensen thought 1980, Pastor Chuck Smith named 1981, and television evangelist, Pat Robertson, was no doubt left scratching his head when his god failed to blow our home planet and everything on it to smithereens in 1982.

Tara Centers was so confident the Christian god was poised to extinguish all life that she took out full page ads in newspapers on the 24th and 25th of April 1982 announcing that “The Christ is Now Here!”

Edgar C. Whisenant got it wrong in 1988 but did sell 5 million copies of his book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. He revised the date to 1989, then 1993, and finally 1994, but didn’t sell as many books the second, third and fourth times around.

1993 was the date for our planets dazzling demise according to the Disciples of Christ, David Berg, and after getting it wrong in 1988 and then again in 1999 the World Mission Society Church of God was certain 2012 was in fact the year their god was going to end it all.

For the Christian radio broadcaster, Harold Camping, it was 6am on the 21st of May 2011 (a date later updated to the 21st of October), for Ronald Weinland of the Church of God it was May 27th 2012, June 30th for José Luis de Jesús of the Growing In Grace International Ministry (Inc.), and for Warren Jeffs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints it was the 23rd of December 2012 (a date amended a few days later to the 31st of December) for when the Middle Eastern Christian god was going to commence its enchanted bloodbath and extinguish all terrestrial life.

All told, in the last fifty-six generations (1,700 years) there have been more than three-hundred prominent captains of Christianity who have announced with excited yips of childlike anticipation that their god was about to lay waste to all life on earth.

In this generation alone there have been over forty major public incidents where socially-reckless, apocalypse-hungry Christian leaders have proclaimed that their god was here and it was time to die… and when the captains speak easily persuadable, astoundingly gullible congregants regretfully listen.

Today a staggering 41% of US citizens (130,000,000 adults) believe that their Middle Eastern god will commence its mass extinction of all creatures in their lifetime. It’s a ghastly figure but it is a number reflected in the multi-billion dollar Christian apocalypse industry that has in just the last twenty years produced 29 End Times films (with such grand titles as “Tribulation” and “Judgement”), 60 documentaries (like “Racing to the End Times”), and some 1,120+ grotesquely warped End Times books, of which the Left Behind series has alone sold over 40 million copies. Add into this mix literally thousands of Christian End Times websites (like Ark Haven), thousands of blogs (like Christian Survival, The End-Times Christian Spiritual Survival Page and End-Time Preparation), and scores of geographically-specific Christian-only Survivalists groups and what we have is the largest and (somewhat antithetically, albeit hilariously) longest-lasting Death Cult in the history of humanity; a debauched sect geared to producing media products like Richard Mitchell Jr’s “Dancing at Armageddon: Survivalism and Chaos in Modern Times,” and Robert J. Logston’s, “The End-Times Blood Bath” which has a delightful foreword that reads:

“The Rapture, The Beast, The False Prophet, The Four Horsemen… there is a good chance you will personally witness these events. It is foretold that during the End-Times two-thirds of all people on earth will die and Christ will return for the remaining Christians. Reading this book will introduce you to the main players and prepare you for the reign of the Beast.”

Now, without delving into the depraved depths of thanatophilia, or even the detestable notion of the anticipated slaughter of children whose only crime is that their parents were born into the wrong religion, it is perhaps only appropriate to remind the death-craving religious audiences of the Robert J. Logston’s of the world that they should probably read their bibles a little more carefully, because if they did they’d see that the very first Christian Doomsdayer, Jesus Christ himself, got his own prediction of the end of the world stupendously wrong when he boldly announced: “I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28, Luke 9:27, Mark 9:1).

Evidently, the character Jesus wasn’t exactly telling the truth. All those standing there in the story went on to die perfectly normal, entirely non-supernatural deaths, and that leaves the 21st Century Christian in quite a credibility muddle. If the Host, Guest of Honour and Master of Ceremonies of the Christian apocalypse got his own date with annihilation wrong then it’s perfectly safe to categorise any and all ensuing thought of magically-delivered, earth-wrecking firestorms as little more than the demented ramblings of conspicuously unbalanced minds; minds whose warnings are about as convincing (and ultimately as menacing) as a hippy threatening to punch someone in their aura. Indeed, when confronted with such brain haemorrhaging nonsense all any sane individual could quietly hope for is that these emotionally unstable Christian luminaries and the simpleminded (death-anxious) flocks they oversee might one day instead direct their efforts to improving life on this planet today, rather than wishing for its obliteration tomorrow.

*POSTSCRIPT 8th October, 2015: Christian radio host Chris McCann got his date for the end of the world, 7 October 2015, wrong.

Death Cult Christianity