THE NEW TESTAMENT

All the founders of the Christian faith were Jews who believed in the Hebrew god. Jesus Christ was a devout Jew who also followed the ancient religion.

Present day Christians make no distinction between the Hebrew god of the Old Testament and the god portrayed in the New Testament. It is claimed that the whole Bible was inspired by god and that all the precepts therein are sufficient for modem society.

The New Testament also presents contradictory statements. Here are some examples:

God is no respecter of persons. Acts 10:34. Rom- 2:11.

God IS a respecter of persons, Rom. 9:11-13, 18.

God is not the author of confusion. 1 Cor. 14:33.

God IS the author of contusion, 2 Thess. 2:11.

God cannot lie, Heb. 6:18. Titus 1:2

God DOES lie, 2 Thess, 2:11, Rom. 3:7, 2 Cor, 12:16,

Jesus taught non-violence. Matt. 5:39, Matt. 26:52.

Jesus taught violence. Luke 22:36, John 2:15, Matt. 10 .34.

Jesus taught not to fear death, Luke 12:4.

Jesus Is afraid of being killed, John 7:1,

Haired of family condemned. Eph. 5:25 & 29, Eph. 6:2.

Jesus taught hatred of family, Luke 14:26, Matt. 10:34-7

Judging others forbidden. Matt. 7:1-2.

Judging others approved, I Cor. 6:2-4.

Taking oaths forbidden. Matt. 5:34-37.

Taking oaths sanctioned, Heb- 6; 13.

There are more contradictions and absurdities found in the New Testament, If we cross reference with the Old Testament, we find still further serious contradictions. The following three paragraphs, with modifications, are from John Bowden's hook "The Bible Contradicts Itself". The several stories of the resurrection of Jesus are here set out as questions and answers.

At what time in the morning, did the women visit the tomb?

MATTHEW, As it began to dawn: MARK. At the rising of the sun: JOHN. When it was yet dark.

Who came?

JOHN,Mary Magdalene alone: MATTHEW, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary; MARK, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome: LUKE, Mary Magdalene. Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women.

Was the tomb open or closed when they arrived?

MARK. LUKE and JOHN. Open: MATTHEW. Closed

Whom did they see at the tomb?

MATTHEW, the angel: MARK. a voung man; LUKE, Two men: John, two angels.

Were those men or angels inside or outside the tomb? MATTHEW, outside: MARK, LUKE and JOHN, inside.

Were they sifting or standing ?

LUKE, standing. MATTHEW, MARK and JOHN: sitting.

Did Marv Magdalene observe the divine messenger when she first arrived at the sepulcher?

MATTHEW and MARK, she did. LUKE and JOHN, she did not.

Who became frightened when they now the messengers? MATTHEW, the keepers, MARK and LUKE, the women.

Did the women see Jesus?

MATTHEW and MARK, they did; LUKE. They did not see Jesus.

Did the women tell the disciples what they had seen?

MATTHEW, LUKE and JOHN, Yes. MARK, No.

Did Marv Magdalene know Jesus when he first appeared to her? MATTHEW, she did. JOHN, she did not.

How many disciples visited the tomb ?

LUKE, the women and then Peter alone, JOHN, Peter and another.

Was Mary Magdalene permitted to touch Jesus when he first appeared to her?

MATTHEW, Yes, JOHN, No.

Where did Jesus first appear in his disciples?

MATTHEW, in Galilee; LUKE, in Jerusalem.

Were all the disciples finally convinced of the resurrection?

JOHN, they were;

MATTHEW, they were not. Some doubted. JOHN states that when the disciples saw Jesus after the resurrection they were "glad". According to LUKE, they were "terrified and affrighted" they thought they were seeing a spirit.

According to MATTHEW, MARK and LUKE, Jesus saw his disciples but once after the resurrection. JOHN has it that he saw them on three occasions, the last occasion being on the shore of the sea of Tiberias.

Paul's account of the events of the resurrection differ in almost every respect from the gospel narrative. Paul says that Jesus was seen by Peter and then by "the twelve". He tells of "above five hundred brethren" who saw the risen Jesus. Yet according to Acts 1:15, the number of faithful after the resurrection was about one hundred and twenty.

Life After Death.

The notion of a heaven for good people and divine judgment for evil people in an after life, goes back at least to the ancient Mesopotamian religion of Mithraism. The Old Testament does not say much about the notion of heaven except as a place where God and angels dwell. Neither does It mention a place of retribution where humans could suffer for all eternity for their misdeeds. That idea was left to the Christian doctrine to exploit. They turned the \ague notion into vivid and horrendously frightening absolute literalism.

The Christian belief in a hereafter necessitates that the embodiment of this lifetime experience be consciously carried forward into an afterlife The 'soul' complete with a memory of the past life, is held responsible for actions or beliefs during that past life, Sir James Frazer O.M, In his excellent book "The Golden Bough" tells us "the savage commonly explains the process of inanimate nature by supposing that they are produced by living beings working in or behind the phenomena,.., (similarly) If a man lives and moves, it can only he because he has a little man or animal inside who moves him. The animal inside the animal, the man inside the man. is the soul," This schizoid idea of splitting the person into two people, is also a religious concept. The Christian notion of the soul is extended, not only to give it a mind and responsibility of Its own for which it can be punished, but eternal life as well,

I am sure all rational people must agree that the human brain is the storehouse of all our knowledge, attitudes, emotions and beliefs. Our brain is our only mental repository from which we draw all our reactions to the passing parade of life. It is the power house which gives us the ability to think, react, decide or choose. When we die. our mortal mental repository with all its vast record of experience, knowledge, beliefs and memories must be lost and decay with the rest of our mortal bodies. There can be no "little person inside the person" who does not die.

The following extract is from "History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science" John W, Draper, University of New York, December 1873. "We must remember that everything around us is in mutation; decay follows reproduction and reproduction decay, and that it is useless to repine at death in a world where everything is dying. As a cataract flows from year to year as an invariable shape, though the water composing it is perpetually changing, so the aspect of Nature is nothing more than a flow of matter presenting an impermanent form".

Surely this thing we call life is like a candle, lit at conception and extinguished at death. It is futile and irrational to imagine that the energy of the flame of life, body and supposed soul. cannot be extinguished. I do not see any evidence of an eternal flame of life or spirit applying to any other species of nature. We cannot separate ourselves from nature as though we were governed by different laws. There is no reason why we should expect something special to happen to mankind which does not happen to all other occupants of nature.