A Review of “Defending Child Sacrifice: The Ultimate Expression of Cultural Relativism”

Last week on ‘carljohnsonsite’ a couple of Christian propagandists assert the teaching of child sacrifice in Colorado schools.

Christians have asserted some incredibly crackpot things in the media (think: Donald Trump was sent by Jesus!) and, apparently, continue to do so including their new, wildly insane claim of a defense of child sacrifice being taught in Colorado schools. Add this to their accusations of persecution around the world which are also completely laughable considering that, throughout history, no organization or religion persecuted more people – entire nations and societies at a time – than Christians.  In fact, they literally perfected the art of persecution since there was so little of it before Christianity became an “accepted” then the “official” religion within the Roman Empire.  And they did so in spectacular ways; burning, hanging, the “rack”, ripping off fingernails and body parts, extravagant torture chambers, and much more. They really put their best and most creative foot forward when it came to torture; all to force people to believe what they believe.  You see, it’s not enough for them to hold their mindless, vacuous, beliefs regardless of how ridiculous they are, you must believe it also whether you want to or not. This is the Christian way. So much for “free will” I guess. 

Now they’re going off on child sacrifice in the ancient world and asserting that our children are being taught that child sacrifice shouldn’t be necessarily held as “wrong” (the Inca civilization was the example sited).  They claim the unnamed teacher “also reprimanded ‘white education’ for wrongly teaching generations of Americans that the practice was bad. I’m not making this up.”  First, let’s say that there is a really good chance that they have, in fact, made this up since the weaving of absolute nonsense is one of their specialties.  Let’s also note that they just love an issue that calls out white America so they can demonstrate all the “woe is me” trials and tribulations (pun intended) of the poor, abused, white man. But perhaps their most zany claim is that the remedy for child sacrifice in the ancient world was, of course, Christianity because, after all, who else protects the innocent children of the world more than Jesus’ pious and god-fearing faithful?  It is this claim specifically that got me off the couch to refute this hypocritical, self-righteous nonsense.  But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Let’s remember that, first, they believe that there’s an invisible man in the sky that knows everything, everything you think – or have ever thought – everything you’ve done or will ever do; all monitored by an invisible, supernatural entity. They believe that virgins can have babies while remaining virgins, that people (men, almost exclusively) can perform miracles including walking on water, turning water into wine, raising the dead and, best of all, dying and returning to life – physically – all because some people (again, men exclusively) wrote it in an ancient scroll. Imagine, an ancient society thinking such things!  Remember that all the other religions with the equally ridiculous claims were all deemed false by Christians, except this one!

But my favorite point of the entire episode is their pearl-clutching objection to the idea of child sacrifice in the ancient world.  This seems to step right over the fact that the Israelites themselves also practiced child sacrifice in their very early development as a “people”. (See “Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel” by Heath D. Dewrell) This was not unusual or considered primitive for hundreds and hundreds of years.  Beyond this, their assertion also steps over the steaming pile of excrement that their very own religion relies completely on human sacrifice.  There would be no Christianity (or, at least, no theological basis for it) if it weren’t for their claim that a man named Yeshua – a devout Jew, who lived his entire life as a Jew, born raised and supposedly died as a Jew – returned to life after a most grisly execution by scourging and then crucifixion by the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate.  Salvation within the Christian mythology is literally based-upon and completely dependent upon his role as the person of honor in a vicarious human sacrificial ceremony!  This is direct contrast to Hebrew Scripture which states unequivocally that no person may pay for the sins of others, it is simply not acceptable to the deity; the sinner must pay for their own sins.  However, they would have you believe that in this one case, it became not only permissible but essential; that this completely innocent person (literally born without sin) die for the sins of others.  In other words, vicarious salvation by the human sacrifice of another, innocent person.

As far as their assertion that it was Christianity that saved the children from further sacrificial death, I believe it is essential to first understand that the practice of child sacrifice within Israel and the Near East ended millennia before Christianity was even a moronic idea in the head of Saul/Paul and the early church fathers.  It simply wasn’t even a issue discussed in almost any area of the new mythology.  But I think it’s worth noting that the fanatical support of the GOP by the delirious religious class really places their assertion about protecting children exactly where it belongs: in the circular file.  They support a party that simply will not lift a finger to protect our children in their schools, where they are killed by gunmen almost every, single day.  If this is protecting children, then they are as delirious in this intention as their mind-numbing mythology.  Even though I think of this as our most egregious violation of our duties and responsibilities as parents, adults, guardians, whatever, they’re perfectly ok with their representative’s apathy and inaction.

Additionally, I think their silent acquiescence towards the deliberate and systematic genocide by the Israel government and military further highlights the dishonesty and fallaciousness of Christian claims on this topic.  They haven’t – and won’t – say a peep about the deaths of literally thousands and thousands of innocent civilians, men, women and children.  Doesn’t sound to me as though their deity gives a hoot about anything other than money and power.  But then, that is the history of Christianity in practice.

Lastly, their newest and most laughable “messiah” Donald Trump, the THIRTY-FOUR TIME CONVICTED FELON, ADJUDICATED SEXUAL PREDATOR, and adamant PROTECTOR OF THE MOST PROLIFIC PEDOPHILE in AMERICAN HISTORY, whom, it should be noted, they overwhelmingly voted for doesn’t do much to support their case either.  Their assertion of Christianity as the protector of children, as on many of their wildly fictitious and baseless claims, is simply not substantiated by the facts.

I’ll end on my amusement that they never seem to allow comments to their most absurd articles; the ‘debate’ (at least in their own minds) of the Shroud of Turin, the “Rapture”, the return of Yeshua (any day now, after all it’s only been TWO THOUSAND years, so far), and much more cannot be refuted or commented upon.

Gee, I wonder why?

What If It Really Is All A Scam?

Is It Even Possible To Uncover The “Real Jesus”?

I am a layman and I do not portray myself as anything other, but I have serious doubts about whether the entire “Quest for the Historical Jesus” isn’t anything other than a search for a purple squirrel, or a fool’s errand in the words of Dr. Richard C. Miller. It just may be so obfuscated in hundreds of years and thousands of written iterations by scribes sleepwalking their way through who knows how many rewrites, edits, interpolations, and intentional ‘alterations’ as to leave itself forever shrouded in unsolvable mystery. But, more importantly, I do not believe that any intellectually legitimate evaluation of the NT can be reasonably concluded without consideration given to the most erudite scholarship of it contributed by Hebrew scholars and rabbis. A complete and thorough examination of 1st century Christianity cannot be legitimately concluded without an equally thorough examination of the thoughts and interpretations of the most learned Hebrew scholars. Their insights into the ministry of Yeshua of Nazareth are as enlightening as any you will read anywhere. Many of these learned, studied, scholars not only believe he wasn’t an ‘enemy” of the Pharisees, but that he may have actually been one himself! And, almost equally incredible, that Paul may not have been a Pharisee at all! (There is very little of Paul’s story Hebrew scholars believe.) But do not take my word, simply read their own arguments as to why Jesus answers all of the queries put to him by the various Pharisees accurately and completely within the context of 1st century Pharisaic Judaism. The NT portrayal of Jesus as an enemy of the Pharisees is simply a later and intentional reconstruction of his very devout Jewish nature which by necessity was left in the dust bin of its’ own making. They simply could not leave him to be a Jew; Paul’s gentile audience of late 1st century-early 2nd century Romano-Hellenist former pagans wouldn’t buy in to such a notion. 

In this respect Christianity is it possible that be nothing more than a “false’“ religion, for what else can be said about a religion that does not include or even acknowledge the basic fundamental principals of its’ own founder? Jesus was a Jew, as many secular and even many fundamentalist scholars will admit, and actually made many statements himself that further cement that notion. So how, then, did the religion that bears his name (or, more accurately, his title) turn out to be anything other than Jewish

Hmmmmm. 

Pastor Greg Locke and the Insanity of Evangelicalism

Pastor Greg Locke, of Mt. Juliet’s Global Vision Bible Church, near Nashville, previously told his congregation that he considered Democrats to be “baby butchers.”

Yes, baby butchers. This all for allowing a woman, perhaps a couple, her/their right to choose how to conduct their pregnancy. Of course this insane accusation conjures up visions of…well, you can imagine. “You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. I don’t care how mad that makes you. You can get as p***ed off as you want to. You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. They are God-denying demons that butcher babies and hate this nation.” he said in one of his many off-the-rails sermons to his congregants. Even in and among the supernatural world religious minions, Greg Locke is a stand-out. Whether it’s witches in his congregation or demons speaking to him, he wants you to believe he’s all-in on Jesus!

Well I have a declaration for you, Mr. Locke: you can not be a Christian and belong to the Repugnantcan Party; sorry, can’t be done. Jesus simply would not have you. Beyond their inherent racism; their contempt for immigrants, African Americans, and, of course, women, is their policy of handing out guns; assault rifles, huge-capacity magazines for carry ridiculous amounts of ammunition, to any shit-kicking a-hole that wants one. They will not lift a finger – even in view of the unspeakable events we’ve watched unfold in Newtown and now in Uvalde, TX – in order to stave off future events of gun violence. They watch while children are murdered seemingly without a clue as to how to stop this insanity or even slow it down. ”We already have enough gun laws” they’ll tell you. ”None of the gun laws would have prevented this” they ”reason”. “We need less doors and more armed personnel in our schools.” And so it goes on and on while we get only the benefits of their ”thoughts and prayers” which, as you can see, have had absolutely no success. Besides, which American politician’s prayers is Jesus listening to anyway? I’m sure that’s a very short list.

The problem is that Christians like Mr Locke are perfectly ok with the unforgivable carnage their policies cause as long as it gets abortion off of the rolls of legal medical procedures and so they vote overwhelmingly for the ”More Guns” crowd. Unfortunately, the ”More Guns” crowd also comes with the ”More Death” crowd to our school children while they are ”safely” tucked away in their classrooms. Only I don’t remember doors being a problem when I went to grammar school or junior high school or high school and we had lots of doors leading into the schools and, yes, some of them were even unlocked or – heaven forbid – open! We even had windows so you can see inside the school! What I DO remember is that we didn’t have 300,000,000 guns in the hands of, in some cases, very scary people, people that should never be candidates for gun ownership.

The Republicans of today would have you believe that there simply isn’t anything we can do to circumvent the murder of our children in schools because there are too many doors and not enough armed guards! And we also know that Evangelicals vote overwhelmingly for Republicans. Meanwhile, back in the imaginary realm where the spirits and demons play, Pastor Greg is whipping his crowd into a frenzy over abortion rights and paying absolutely no mind to our BORN children being murdered in schools. That is one consistent thing about the GOP and the Religious Right; they care passionately about the unborn but they don’t give a hoot about them once they are born. The problem with this of course is ”What would Jesus do?” Do we mean to believe that he would be ok with voting for people that facilitate the arming of our population at the expense of public safety? At the expense of the lives of children?

What do you think? Should we put pressure on the Religious Right to help protect our BORN children by protesting the GOP’s addiction to gun money?