The Religion of the Benevolent Invisible Hand

The word "religion" has no fixed meaning.  We usually think of religion in narrow terms as the worship of an all-powerful God, who has a strict moral code and blessings for the righteous. But this is just one type of religion.  An economic or political system can also be a religion when it is an object of adoration and cannot be questioned.  In this sense Adolph Hitler's ideology of Aryan superiority was the religion of the German people during the 1930s and he was their God.  Some Americans have a secular religion whose primary doctrine is our nation's superiority to all other countries.  These Americans believe that our culture, institutions, and economic system are without equal and they sometimes speak of the U.S. Constitution with the same reverence that fundamentalist Christians have towards the Bible.  They sneer at Europe because business activity in Europe is subject to a much greater degree of regulation than in the U.S. They believe on faith that unfettered free market capitalism is what makes America great and prosperous.  Their religion of free market capitalism -- with only minimal regulation by government -- can be traced back to Adam Smith, the famous 18th century economist.  He taught that society as a whole would prosper if each individual was free to pursue his own self-interest and that a free-market economy would always regulate itself, as if guided by an Invisible Hand.  Belief in the benevolent Invisible Hand and unfettered free-market capitalism is a religion.  Those who believe in this religion somehow overlook the fact that the U.S. economy has failed on numerous occasions to "regulate itself" and government has had to come to the rescue each time.  The two most obvious economic failures are the Great Depression of the 1930s and the economic catastrophe of 2008 and early 2009.  Adam Smith's notion that the pursuit of self-interest is good for society was expressed by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) in the movie "Wall Street."  Gordon Gekko's speech is powerful.  He says, "Greed--for lack of a better word--is good.  Greed is right.  Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms--greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge--has marked the upward surge of mankind.  And greed--you mark my words--will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."  I love hearing those words and you can see his performance in the video below.

Religious Rant on the floor of the House of Representatives in October of 2013

Religious speech is usually predictable and boring.  We know what our minister is likely to say in his sermon or at a funeral.  We know what types of prayers will be uttered at prayer breakfasts, city council meetings, and Presidential inauguration ceremonies. But once in a while spontaneous and unusual religious speech occurs and it gets our attention.  One such instance took place on the floor of the House of Representatives in October of 2013.  The federal government had been shut down because the two parties could not agree on spending priorities and there was no longer any legal authority to spend tax dollars.  Eventually an agreement was reached and House members were voting on the proposed legislation.  During the voting Diane Reidy, a stenographer for the House of Representatives, interrupted the proceedings with a loud religious rant against the legislation. She walked up to the podium and angrily said things concerning the devil and freemasons.  The meaning of her rant was unclear. She said, quoting Jesus, "You cannot serve two masters [God and money]."  She was removed by Capitol Hill police and taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.  For more information go to http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-ids-reports-new-details-on-stenographer-who-went-on-bizarre-rant-on-house-floor/ and watch the video below.

Baptist minister and former governor Mike Huckabee explains the mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

When tragic events occur, religious people often say that God works in mysterious ways.  They don't try to explain the tragedy, but simply say that "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."  But pastors and theologians sometimes try to explain tragedies such as earthquakes, school shootings, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.  There was a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.  Adam Lanza killed 20 children and 6 adult staff members before killing himself.  The former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, was asked about this tragedy.  He is a Southern Baptist minister.  He said that God allowed the deaths at Sandy Hook Elementary School because "we have removed God from the schools."  In saying that "we" have removed God from the schools, Huckabee was referring to the Supreme Court Justices of the 1960s, who ruled that prayers and Bible reading in public schools are unconstitutional.  Is God still angry about Supreme Court rulings from the 1960s? Apparently so, according to Governor Huckabee.  If God were logical, he would have killed or punished the Supreme Court Justices who sinned by banning prayer and Bible reading in schools. Instead Huckabee tells us, in effect, that an irrational and angry God waited patiently for 50 years and then vented his anger at the Supreme Court of the 1960s by killing the innocent children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Such is the "explanation" of Mike Huckabee. Some may say that Adam Lanza is responsible for the deaths, but from a Christian perspective an all-powerful God is responsible for the deaths.  An all-powerful and loving God could have intervened to protect the adults and children from Adam Lanza, just as God intervened to protect the children of Israel from the Egyptian Pharaoh.  Above is the video in which Huckabee gives his repugnant explanation of the Sandy Hook shootings.

Hypocritical Evangelical Pastors

If pastors cannot conduct their own lives in accordance with the strict sexual morality taught in the New Testament, why do they teach church members to live this way and why do they condemn homosexual acts?  The New Testament says that Christians are "new creatures" in Christ and their lives are transformed by being "born again."   The promise that your life will be transformed when you are "born again" is at odds with the reality that evangelical ministers behave just like non-religious people.  Jimmy Swaggart spent money on a prostitute. His confession of sin has been viewed many times and you can see it below.  Evangelical pastors often get divorced despite Christ's condemnation of divorce.  They have affairs and sometimes physically abuse their spouses.  They watch a lot of online pornography, as noted in the article below.  The article cites a 2001 survey by Leadership Magazine, a trade publication for evangelical pastors, finding that nearly half of pastors admitted viewing online pornography. 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/evangelicals-527287-gay-marriage.html?page=1
For more instances of clergy sexual misconduct involving Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, and others, watch the second video below.

                                                                         

                                                                           

The Heaven's Gate religion: killing your body so that your soul will ascend to the Next Level

People with strong religious faith will do anything that their religion requires. They will even kill in the name of God.  Abraham took action in obedience to God's command to kill his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  After Isaac was bound to the altar, Abraham took the knife to kill Isaac.  An angel of God stopped Abraham at the last minute, saying "Now I know that you are a God-fearing man in that you have not withheld your only son."  Abraham then saw a ram caught in the bushes and sacrificed the ram instead of Isaac. See chapter 22 of Genesis.  Abraham was blessed by God for his obedience.  Genesis 22:15-17.

In March 1997 thirty-nine people, members of the Heaven's Gate cult, killed themselves in obedience to their religion.  Their leader was Marshall Applewhite, the son of a Presbyterian minister.  He created a new religion based on Christian concepts and also on a belief in superior alien beings from other worlds.  In destroying their earthly bodies, Applewhite's disciples believed their souls would be liberated and would ascend to a spaceship near the Hale-Bopp comet.   They would subsequently be transported to the Next Level, which is similar to Heaven or the Kingdom of God in Christianity. 

Marshall Applewhite recruited young people who were seeking spiritual enlightenment. They lived together in houses and had minimal contact with the outside world.  There were rules for every activity, including pancake making and shaving.  Strict obedience to the rules was required, as is also the case for monks or nuns living together.  Applewhite's disciples were ordered not to have any contact with members of their families (exceptions were sometimes made).  They were taught that they could not ascend to the Next Level unless they renounced their old way of life and their old ways of thinking.  They had to abandon attachments to family members, friends, and careers.  Applewhite taught his disciples of their need to be reborn, which mirrors the Christian concept of being "born again."  They had to renounce the pleasures of this sinful world, including sexual activity and even sexual thoughts.  

Of the 39 people who died, Applewhite and seven others had been castrated. They believed that castration would enable them to avoid lustful thoughts.  In the video included in this blog, Applewhite quotes Jesus in support of castration.  "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell."  Matthew 5:29.  The video contains interviews with former members of this cult, including one member whose friend tossed a coin to determine which of the two would be castrated first. They wanted to be castrated because of their strong religious belief.  People will do anything their religion requires even if it involves death, castration, or handling poisonous snakes.

  

Why do people believe they are protected by guardian angels?

A report by Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, cited by ABC News, says that more than half of adult Americans believe they have been protected by a guardian angel.  http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5833399  Do the people who believe in guardian angels ever consider what the guardian angels were doing to protect human life when Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012?  Do they consider what the guardian angels were doing when Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually molested young boys?  What were the guardian angels doing to protect people when Hurricane Katrina killed almost 2000 people in 2005 and Typhoon Haiyan killed about 10,000 in the Philippines and elsewhere in 2013?  Despite these stories and countless other stories of this type, people continue to believe they are protected and guided by guardian angels.  They pay attention to what Doreen Virtue says. She makes money telling people how to contact guardian angels and Ascended Masters in her books, audiobooks, spiritual workshops, etc.  I have provided one of her videos.

Bob Jones' web site says he is a "contemporary prophet with a great love for the Lord Jesus and His truth."  His prophecies "have spanned over four decades as the Lord has enabled him to foretell earthquakes, tidal waves, comets, and weather patterns."  Listen to Bob and other prophets who predict that major earthquakes will soon destroy California and the rest of the West Coast.  In addition, eleven Northeast states will soon be destroyed because they have given their approval to same sex marriage.  Once California and the eleven Northeast states are destroyed, our country will consist almost entirely of red states and we will never again elect a Democrat as President. God hates Democrats and loves Republicans.  When the Bible speaks of the sheep and goats, we know what God really had in mind.

God is really pissed off.  We Americans are very sinful.  Some people say God is going to destroy the U.S. because gay marriage is now legal in many states.  But I say God's wrath will be poured out on the U.S. because short selling is permitted on Wall Street, the FDA has banned trans fats, and the Federal Reserve under Janet Yellen will continue the "quantitative easing" policies of her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, and this debases the dollar.  Whatever the reasons for God's wrath, tsunamis will destroy much of our country in 2014 as predicted by Elvi Zapata, a modern Prophet, in this video.

Watch this video for scenes of snake handling and insight into the theology of snake handling.

I recently learned about a disgusting Jewish circumcision ritual performed in some ultra-Orthodox communities. The ritual has allegedly lead to the deaths of infants.  The person performing the circumcision sucks the infant's penis to remove the blood from the wound.  This can cause death if the person has herpes or similar diseases.  The Jewish God does not protect the Jewish infants who are victims of this disgusting ritual.

A snake-handling pastor charged with a criminal offense under Tennessee law has pled "not guilty" based on the First Amendment.

Pastor Andrew Hamblin is a snake-handling pastor in a Tennessee church.  Church members handle snakes in accordance with Mark 16:17.  He was in court on November 15, 2013, and pled not guilty based on his Constitutional right to freedom of religion.  He has been charged with possession and display of venomous snakes, a criminal offense under Tennessee law.  He has received an outpouring of support from about 500 people. After 50 snakes were seized by state authorities and transferred to the Knoxville zoo, other snakes were brought into his church and snake handling has continued.  http://scott.wbir.com/news/news/628872-snakes-handled-service-after-pastors-not-guilty-plea

Here are some more Harold Camping videos for your enjoyment.

I really miss Harold Camping.  His "Open Forum" radio program was great.  He was absolutely certain that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011.  He predicted that a huge worldwide earthquake would occur on that day killing millions of people.  On the same day God's favorite people--the elect--would be taken up into Heaven.  Also, he predicted that God would pour out his wrath on the earth for the next five months and on October 21, 2011, the entire universe would be destroyed.  Harold Camping had thousands of followers.  Some of them took Camping's message so seriously that they did not seek college admission, buy a house, get married, or seek employment because they knew they would soon be taken up into Heaven. It is great to listen to Camping and I have some good videos for you to enjoy.

A Christian pastor in Tennessee has a church where congregants handle poisonous snakes in accordance with Mark 16:17.  I am an atheist but I admire this pastor.  It takes a lot of courage to handle these snakes.  It is illegal in Tennessee to possess these snakes.  This pastor is willing to go to jail in defense of his beliefs.  I admire him for that reason.  For the details go to http://www.religionnews.com/2013/11/12/serpent-handler-tv-star-new-cause-religious-liberty/

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." John 16:13.

Christians believe that the Holy Spirit -- what John 16:13 calls the Spirit of truth -- descended upon the Christians on the day of Pentecost.  On that wonderful day the apostles performed miracles and Peter preached his first sermon.  About three thousand people became Christians on that day. You can read about these events in the second chapter of Acts.

The New Testament speaks of "the church" and "the gospel." Jesus envisioned one church led by the Holy Spirit and in possession of "all truth."  In today's world, however, there are thousands of churches (denominations), each of which asserts that it teaches the truth.  The likelihood that any of these churches is in possession of "all truth" is very small.  The churches disagree on fundamental questions even though they all use the same Bible. Given this state of affairs, I conclude that the "Spirit of truth" spoken of in John 16:13 does not exist or does not know how to communicate a clear message.  Nor does the Bible communicate a clear message.  I will provide one example.  Jesus taught the importance of God's commandments.  Salvation comes from obedience to the commandments.  See, for example, Matthew 19:16-17 and Matthew 5:17-20. But Paul taught that salvation is a gift one receives through faith in Jesus, not through obedience to the commandments.  "A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."  Romans 3:28.