ZombieJesus, Plant Ovaries, and Apache Indians

I am a user on a Christian forum that allows for open debates between the users. I've joined to throw about my two cents, even though I am sometimes disregarded for being a non-believer (and told to GTFO). Others, however, really like that I'm present there and don't want me to leave.

So I stay.

But anywho, something I posted there could definitely double as a blog post here. This was made in response to a discussion about contradictions in the Bible.

There's a lot of people in the world that hate Christianity for beliefs such as Hell, anti-homosexuality, anti-abortion, so-on such-as. So they look all over the Bible for insane verses and philosophical contradictions. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it's just stupid.

The reason why I left Christianity is that the worldview of Christianity, while it makes sense in it's own little world, didn't make sense to me when I took a few steps back and looked at the broad spectrum of things.

It especially seemed ridiculous when I realized that Christianity basically worships an immortal zombie (hence the phrase ZombieJesus on the internet).

Also, I was turned off by Christianity's resistance to other schools of thought that don't come explicitly from the Bible. The Tao Te Ching is obviously a tool of Satan because it's a philosophy that comes from somewhere else. A standard that Aristotle was never held to (examine the history of Galileo Galilei).

Upon leaving, I've seen a few philosophical contradictions in the religion of Christianity mainly in how it's practiced, rather than the Bible itself. There's a few places where the Bible is nowhere near as clear as it claims to be, but even if it was, and still adhered to the philosophical worldview it always has (sacrificing literally means something to God, God is a sentient creature, Jesus' death literally saves us from Hell even though he didn't actually die... Cause he couldn't... but died for our sins... wait what?), I still wouldn't be able to follow it because it simply doesn't make sense to me. It even seems crazy sometimes.

So I am where I am. fluttering above a few philosophical ideas and but mostly settled on the issue of religion. Still changing because I am constantly exposed to new facts, but I like it that way.

Zombie Jesus!

To which a user named Hope responded:

that's what bugs me. people lump Christians into a category of all being so judgmental and hypocritical. and yes, in reality, many of us are. but then there's the ones that really get it, that understand the life Jesus intended for His followers and the law of love that was established at calvary.

and i'm pretty sure Jesus did die. . . at least in the Christian perspective He did.

i agree about Christianity seeming crazy. sometimes i wonder why i believe what i believe, and i feel like just quitting religion altogether. but the thing i love about my faith is that i'm nowhere near understanding how things work out "logically", and i don't have to be. i've experienced God in intimate ways that i can't describe to anyone. just feeling His presence in my life and His love and comfort when i need it most. it's completely and utterly beautiful.

I find that last paragraph extremely interesting. With that, I wonder where she'll be spiritually in five years.

Me again

Right. He died, was supposed to be a sacrifice to be sent to Hell to pay for the sins of mankind, but cheated his way out of Hell (cause he's God, lulz) and came back to life in the form of his physical body, making him technically a zombie.

But then I go back an examine why he had to do all this in the first place. And it goes back to eating the wrong plant ovaries (fruit). The fruit in question gave us the power to tell the difference between good and evil.

Now disregarding whether or not it's possible to gain such wisdom from eating a kind of apple, is it really such a bad thing to have this knowledge? And why did God want to hide these things from us. And furthermore, why did he decide to hide it in fruit?

And once again, I don't understand why that makes us need to go to Hell in the first place. If Adam was dumb enough to take Eve's little plant ovary, giving us knowledge between good and evil, why does that make it possible to go to Hell in the first place when clearly Eve didn't know any better before she ate the apple?

If eating the apple was a sin in the first place, then clearly we had the ability to sin pre-apple. But only the ability to go to Hell post-apple.

So pre-apple we had the thinking abilities of a Dog. Which was, of course, a good thing. But the 'fall' of man flipped things around and allowed us to have some of the knowledge of God, which God apparently wanted to keep to himself... except that he put a magic tree in the middle of a garden that was full of said knowledge.

When the roots of the religion don't make much sense, I start to think it's a little crazy.

I know the comfort that you're talking about, as I have felt it before. But that doesn't mean that it's the Christian God. It could be the Great Spirit (Apache), which seems much more likely to me. God could not be God if he didn't do things logically. And since there's a large amount of logic missing when it comes to the base of Christian beliefs (in my eyes) my potential faith in those beliefs flounder.

All true, but doesn't make much sense when you put it that way

Hope responded a last time

Jesus was never supposed to be sent to hell. feel free to give me a verse that supports your claim to the contrary. and He was fully resurrected back to life. this definately makes Him human, not zombie.

the reason it was a sin to eat of that fruit was because God had told adam and eve not to do so, therefore it was a sin of disobedience. when they were protected from the knowledge of good and evil, they didn't have any problems. the world was perfect and they were free to have fellowship with God and there was no sin to hold them back.

it wasn't that they didn't have a knowledge of God before the fall, it was that they now had a knowledge of God AND a knowledge of sin. therefore bringing forth murder and adultery and all the other horrors that would have been preventable if they hadn't partaken of the ONE fruit from which they had been forbidden.

and i don't think your "great spirit" would give me comfort when i have no belief in him. in fact i have such a strong belief that my God is the only true God in existence that any other 'god' would probably not be in the mood to comfort me in my time of need.

the reason i base my religion on faith is that i wasn't there at the creation of the world. i'm not going to demand scientific proof as to exactly how the world originated, because that would be impossible. everyone claims their belief as fact and that gets us nowhere.