Consulting the Bible - Part 1: Slavery

What is your favorite book?

Apparently, there is an unspoken rule in Christianity that one must answer this question with 'The Bible' before the words even finish reaching their ears. Just look at facebook. Every religious person I know has 'The Bible' listed in their favorite books section, yet I can guarantee that 99% of them have not actually read the Bible from cover-to-cover.

I can't even imagine the thought process. "Well, I've always wanted to read To Kill a Mockingbird and everyone else likes it... so... I'm SURE it's my favorite book."

What I can't comprehend is how a person can call themselves a Christian when they haven't read the actual Christian text. Learning a few of the verses doesn't count, nor does reading a few psalms. If I'm going to believe in something, you can rest assured that I fully understand what I'm buying into before I go out proselytizing. I expect you to do the same thing.

Also, you don't get to pick and choose which parts / verses of The Bible you accept. If you're a Christian, I'm going to assume 1. you've actually read the Bible, 2. you comprehended the Bible, and 3. you accepted the Bible as you're religious text and live you're life based on that moral code.

You know, the moral code that embraces human sacrifice, rape, slavery, genocide, and infanticide.

Part 1 - Slavery

Even though it didn't make the Ten Commandments, one would expect The Bible to be pretty clear about slavery. It's bad. People who enslave others should be punished, right? The Bible is your moral compass, right - so, let's take a look to see what the verses say about the issue.

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)

That's right, The Bible clearly indicates that slavery is okay and you can treat your slaves as property.

Have you ever wondered how hard you could beat your slaves? Well, there is no need to wonder, just consult your Bible:

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)

What about sleeping with your female slaves? Yes, The Bible also provides guidance on this issue:

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)

Maybe Jesus himself can clear up this issue, because there is no way the Bible could actually condone slavery, right? Wrong!!! Jesus said:

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)

Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)

In the following parable, Jesus clearly approves of beating slaves even if they didn't know they were doing anything wrong.

The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it. "But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given." (Luke 12:47-48 NLT)

The Bible is a scary place, and before you start telling people it's your favorite book, you should probably ensure you know exactly what that means. Educate yourself. Don't listen to your preacher or your friends or your minister or even to me. Open the book and read it. You may be surprised at the God you fall to your knees to worship...

Congrats New York!!

I wanted to take a quick moment to say congratulations to New York for joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C in allowing same-sex couples to wed.

I hope each and every gay couple that ties the knot enjoys every happiness that you deserve as an EQUAL American citizen.

The Book of Mormon

I apologize for not posting as regularly this week. I've been spending time with the family and trolloping around NYC which hasn't given me much time to research / write / etc...

I really wanted to see The Book of Mormon while I was in the city, but it was impossible to get tickets, especially last minute.

Now, if you haven't heard of The Book of Mormon it is a musical running on Broadway that was written by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone (Parker and Stone are the creators of South Park). The show was the top winner at this years Tony Awards, taking home 7 awards, including best musical.

I find the show extremely appealing since most of the hard hitting humor seems to come from actual Mormon beliefs. Such as the song "I Believe"

I believe that God has a plan for all of us.
I believe that plan involves me getting my own planet.
And I believe; that the current President of The Church, Thomas Modson, speaks directly to God.
I am A Mormon,
And, dang it! a Mormon just believes!

and

I believe that God lives on a planet called Kolob.
I believe that Jesus has his own planet as well.
And I believe that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri.
If you believe, the Lord will reveal it.
And you'll know it's all true. You'll just feel it.
You'll be a Mormon
And, by gosh!
A Mormon just believes!
Oh, I believe.

The Mormons believe some crazy things!!! Here are the my top 5 on the crazy list

5. After Jesus was resurrected, he visited the people of the Americas.

4. Baptism for the Dead - Mormons believe that because God is our Heavenly Father, he would not condemn those who never had the opportunity to be baptized or understand the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, He prepared a way by which these people could receive the necessary ordinance of baptism to return to live with Him again. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often a descendant of the person, is baptized on behalf of the individual in a Mormon temple. In other words, the baptism if performed by proxy with a living person standing in for the deceased individual.

3. There are multiple heavens. There are actually three according to the Mormon doctrine. One for those that do just ok, one for those that do better than average, and one for those that are really, really good.

2. Modern Revelation. The Mormons believe that the elected prophet of the time gets visits from god and gives him directions. The Mormons have a convention 2 times per year and the prophet tells them what God said.

1. Multiple worlds with multiple Gods. They believe that God created many planets with many people and each planet has its own God. They go further to say that if you are good and special you can also become a God of your own planet.

I have no idea how people can invest their entire lives into this belief system. It just seems insane to me; an awfully hard pill to swallow. However, there are more than 13 million Mormons world-wide.

13 Million!!!

In fact, John Huntsman is running for President of the USA and is of the Mormon faith. Maybe he will get his own planet some day :)

If anyone has seen The Book of Mormon, I would love to hear your opinion. I've listened to a lot of the songs and some were quit shocking!

Sins of the Father

When I was little, my Dad use to take us fishing at this 'secret lake' out in the middle of nowhere. In order to get there, you had to drive down a hidden dirt road in the middle of the woods, cross through a fence marked "Private Property", and cross your fingers in hopes that you would make it down the road and back without getting the car stuck in the mud.

It was a secret place for our little family, and the fish were always biting. We would sit on the lake's edge and my Dad would show me how to bait the hook and cast the line. We all waited together in anticipation as we watched the floaters bobbing on top of the water. Fishing takes a lot of patience, and I remember how quite it was when we were at our covert lake.

When we spent time at the lake, the rest of the world seemed to vanish. It was almost easy to forget about the tears, the fights, and the broken promises.

My Dad was, and still is, a drug addict. I wouldn't say it was our families dark secret, because everyone knew and my Dad usually made it painfully obvious, but for me, his addiction was always a very dark cloud over my youth. I didn't want anyone to know.

I usually pretended everything was okay or that I was indifferent to his choices. Inside, it killed me.

As a child, I didn't understand what an addiction was. To me, everything was black and white. My Dad could either choose us, his family, or he could choose the drugs. Black / white. He always chose the drugs. As an adult, I understand that he wasn't always in control and that he may have wanted to choose us, but couldn't.

Our days of sitting on the edge of the lake ended, and 'going fishing' became a constant unfulfilled promise.

"When I get out of prison, I promise we'll go fishing..." he would say to me. I can't even count the number of times I heard it, but I can count the number of times he followed through. Zero.

I use to think 'If I were a better son, he would stop taking drugs.' If I were nicer to my sister, if I didn't talk back, if I wasn't so hard-headed, if I brushed my teeth after every meal, if I wrote him a letter, if I prayed... something! There had to be something I could do to make him better. I knew it was my fault. If I were a good son, he would just choose us, instead of the drugs. Black / white.

The other memories of my father are not as pleasant as the lake. I remember sitting in a drug house while his dealer measured out drugs on a metal scale. I remember bringing him a homemade bookmark with a mallard duck on it when he was in the jail downtown. The corrections officer handed it to him while I watched through the bullet proof glass. I remember Christmas morning when he pushed my mom. I remember when he received special privileges to come to my high school graduation. I remember going to see him in jail and rehab centers.

Even though it is a cliche, I believe that what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. If anything, my Dad showed me 'what NOT to do'... heck, he could have written the book! "Don't leave your small children in a house alone while you go out to buy drugs"... that would be bad. "Don't do drugs," and "Don't ever EVER choose anything over your family."

I've never done drugs. Not a single breath of pot has ever entered my body, nor will it. I've been hard on my friends that made different choices. I ended relationships and friendships over the drug/alcohol issue so that I could surround myself with non-addictive personalities. I've had enough addiction in my life, and I've never even been addicted to anything.

When I make promises to my children, I keep them. I hold me children close to my heart and cherish every moment I have with them. I promise to hear their voices and their words when other adults may discount them. I promise to guide them and protect them throughout their lives. I promise to keep them safe from pain so they won't ever look at me and think "what did I do wrong." I promise to hold their hands and tickle their bellies so that we can laugh together and make happy memories. I promise to sleep in their beds when they have a bad dream and tell them funny stories about mermaids and princesses to make the dreams go away. I promise to always be there, as a father and friend, for my girls. I promise to take them fishing.

For that, I want to say: Thank you Daddy.

Gay Marriage v David Tyree

David Tyree just made me mad. In fact, he kind of pissed me off.

Today, the NY State Assembly passed a same sex marriage bill. The bill is now headed to the Republican controlled state senate, where it's fate is unknown.

Tyree, a former NY Giants receiver, took this opportunity to release a video through the 'National Organization for Marriage' indicating that allowing gay marriage would

be the beginning of our country sliding toward ... anarchy

Really? Anarchy? You really think allowing gay marriage will lead to the destruction of our government and an eternal state of lawlessness? Really?

Tyree went on to say:

Marriage is the only relationship that actually mirrors the relationship with God

I am disappointed when ... not enough guys ... lift up something as honorable and near to God's heart as marriage

We're doing God an injustice by not making his heart known to our country

Is that why you had children prior to your marriage? You know, back when you were a raging drug addict? Is that how you lift up God's message? Interesting...

It is not justifiable to alter a long-standing institution because a minority -- an influential minority -- has ... an agenda

Really? Wow. As a black man, you are going to stand there and say that a minority doesn't deserve a voice because it goes against the majority? I remember a time when African Americans had to fight for equal rights. They were a minority with... "an agenda". They fought the long-standing institution of slavery, jim crow laws, equal rights, voting rights... that seemed to work out okay for you. That didn't lead to anarchy.

In my favorite point, he argued that same sex parents could not raise children of the opposite sex:

You can't teach something that you don't have, So two men will never be able to teach a woman how to be a woman.

Wow, I guess social services should come in and take every male child being raised by a single mother, and every daughter raised by a single father. "Sorry little boy, I know you Dad passed away, but we are going to take you from your mother because she doesn't have the right parts to raise you..."

I have no words.

I Pledge Allegiance to Porky Pig

Look - it's Porky Pig reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Do you notice what is missing?



When Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892, he did not use the words "under God." In fact, those words were not added to the Pledge until 1954, some 62 years later, by President Eisenhower who had recently been converted from a Jehovah's Witness to a baptized Presbyterian.

To most, the words 'Under God' are not a big deal; but think about this. What if President Eisenhower was converted to a Muslim instead of a Presbyterian back in 1953. What if you had to stand up and say "One Nation, under Islam" each time you swore fealty to your country? Would it be a big deal then? Would you fight the change? Would you stand up for your rights as a free American governed by a SECULAR government?

Of course you would. Of course I will.

Do Children Burn in Hell?!

When I was little, I knew my parents were going to burn in hell. I went to a Baptist church and they made it very clear to everyone, children included, that if you didn't go to church, praise the lord, and 'get saved,' you were going to burn and suffer for the rest of eternity.

As a child, I was petrified. I was saved, so I was going to live in heaven after I died, but what about EVERYONE else? My friends and family were good people, they didn't deserve an eternal roasting in the Earth's core. I had nightmares.

As an adult, I view this practice for what it is: child abuse.

Hell is used as a scare tactic to brainwash young children. A child will believe anything when the alternative is never ending pain. They are raised to accept something without question... because if they don't a mean red man will take a pitchfork to their souls.

Children think visually. When someone tells them about a place, such as hell, it burns an image into their mind. To use hell / damnation as a tool to scare children should be punishable by law.

However, kids are raised this way every single day, especially in the South where I live. What kind of adults will these children become? It's simple. Instead of doing good in order to be a good person, they will do good in order to receive a reward (in this case, heaven). These adults will be afraid to question authority or challenge the norm. They will be weak minded and constantly live in fear, not only for their own soul, but for the souls of everyone they love.

My heart breaks for these children. They will never understand or know what 'could have been'.

To knowingly and willingly do this to a child is abuse.

The day I embraced my atheism and truly accepted who I was (a non-believer), I felt a profound freedom and sense of joy. I will raise my children within this joy and I can't wait to see the adults they become.

If you look at my children and pity them for not 'knowing the Lord' - DON'T - it's not my children that need the sympathy.