T.L.C.    So, where is all this leading?   

Big D    As I've already told you, I'm setting the stage for you to see a broader picture of  the Crucifixion story -- a perspective  that gives a very different meaning to that story from the one now being so passionately propagated by fundamentalist Christian leaders.    

T.L.C.    So where did all this start?    

Big D    As you must surely know, almost everything starts with either money or sex.   In this case, it started with sex and turned into being about money, power and control, and today, it's about blindly following antiquated, dysfunctional, obsolete, unprovable  beliefs that have become carved-in-stone-truths  for Fundamental Christianity's true believers.   

T.L.C.    Sex, money, and mindlessness!   As a reporter who specializes in writing human interest stories, that sounds like a story I'd like to write and offer to my readers.   

Big D    Then I shall give you something to write about.

T.L.C.    Are the conservative Christian anti-sexual attitudes and practices based on anything factual, or are they something somebody just made up like their unprovable proclamation that life-begins-at-conception?***pa-51-1

Big D    Their anti-sex position is based on a belief, which is based on a personal proclamation, which is based on a belief, which is based on a belief, which is based on the story of Eve and Adam as written in the Christian Bible.   Anti-sex was written into church theology by Saint Augustine, around 400 A.D.

T.L.C.    Beliefs, proclamations, more beliefs, a saint?   Sort this out please.

Big D    OK.   The present day, fundamentalist Christian Leaders are against sex based on their belief in the anti-sexual, Christian theology.

            The anti-sexual Christian theology was a proclamation [a declaration of personal belief] of Saint Augustine.   Saint Augustine based his proclamation on his personal belief that humanity is inherently evil.   That’s called “Original Sin.”

T.L.C.    And where did Original Sin come from?

Big D    The belief that man is inherently evil is Augustine’s interpretation of the story in Chapter Three of Genesis in the Christian Bible.

T.L.C.    And briefly, that story is. . . ?

Big D    One of your long-dead ancestors ate a piece of fruit; therefore, you and every other human being on the entire planet are evil.

T.L.C.    There’s got to be more to it than that!

Big D    Well, yes.   God said don’t eat any fruit off this particular tree, and Eve took a bite out of the fruit from the off-limits tree.

T.L.C.    And...?

Big D    And what?   That’s it?

T.L.C.    Can’t be!   You left out one of the beliefs between Saint Augustine's  proclamation and Eve and Adam.

Big D    Well, now that you mention it, there are three beliefs in that part.   I actually left out two.   Here they are.   One, Augustine believed that the only way to counter Original Sin was through God’s grace and two, he believed that one had to avoid sex  in order to get God’s grace.

T.L.C.    So God made folks with strong, compulsive, sexual desires and then said that the best people were those who don’t have sex.

Big D    Yup.

T.L.C.    Are you sure it was God who created this?

Big D    God didn't create this.   It’s actually Saint Augustine’s personal beliefs that were transformed into Christian church doctrine.   And it’s what the Christian fundamentalists preach today  as if it were the truth.   They justify human misery by telling their followers that the more you suffer, the closer you are to God.

T.L.C.    Sounds to me like they have it exactly backwards.

Big D    Well, if you were standing on your head, which direction would be up?

T.L.C.    So you’ve just mentioned a rather long chain of beliefs.   What if some of them are wrong?

Big D    Then the foundation crumbles and the whole anti-sexual house of cards comes tumbling down.

T.L.C.    So the fundamentalist Christian anti-sex stance is based on this whole string of beliefs, proclamations, and assumptions?

Big D    That’s correct.   Another way to say that is:

               “Here are the assumptions upon which I base my facts.”

T.L.C.    What does that mean?

.3

         .Eve Forbidden Fruit.         ...   .4

Big D    It means that a conclusion is a fact only if the assumptions upon which it is based are not simply assumptions or personal beliefs, but rather, are provable facts.   When a conclusion is based on a belief only and when the conclusion has no factual evidence to support it, then that conclusion is also only a belief.

T.L.C.    That's a bit confusing.   Can you give me an example?

Big D    Sure.   I'll use three of Augustine's own assumptions,

              1)  "Humans are inherently evil because Eve ate fruit from 
                     the forbidden tree,"

              2)   "The more you suffer the closer you are to God."  and

               3) The only way to obtain God's grace is to avoid having sex.”

            There is no evidence to support any of these assumptions.   Thus any conclusions based on these assumptions are also only assumptions.   For example the conclusion that "sex for anything but making babies is evil"  is only an another un-provable assumption.

            Regarding the anti-sexual stance preached by the fundamentalist Christian leaders, the gap between what they preach and the foundations that their preachings are based upon is filled with several  [often unspoken]  make-believe stories [assumptions].   It’s like building a two-story house and leaving out the first floor.

T.L.C.    I get it.   To use your building analogy, you're saying that their beliefs, proclamations, and assumptions are the building's foundation stones, and those stones must be true, factual, accurate, and complete in order to support the top of the building, which  contains their proclamations about the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of the universe.

Big D    And also all their anti-evolution, anti-abortion, anti-stem-cell-research, and  anti-sex proclamations.   

T.L.C.    So  life is not what the followers of Christianity  have been led to believe it is by those who claim to know.   

Big D    Yup.   The ultra-conservative Christian leaders have their proclamations stacked on top of a rather tall house of unprovable beliefs, and assumptions.   In addition to the three assumptions of Saint Augustine that I just mentioned, Eve and Adam must have actually eaten a forbidden fruit or have done whatever that metaphor symbolizes.   God must have been angry and punished them.   And, here’s the kicker.   God must be a sadistic, unforgiving, hypocritical, greedy, angry, stupid, lying son of a bitch.   

T.L.C.    Wait! Wait a minute.   What’s with this slanderous talk about God?   Where does that come in?

Big D    Well, just look for one short minute at what’s going on here.   God set this whole thing up didn’t He?

T.L.C.    I guess so.

.God Is A Hypocrite.         .The God of Christianity is a Hypocrite  ...5

Big D    What do you mean, you guess so?    It was God who created heaven and Earth.   Or did I miss something?

T.L.C.    Well, that’s how the story’s told.

Big D    So, if the creation story in the Christian Bible literally is true, then God’s the one responsible for creating Original Sin, isn’t He?

T.L.C.    I suppose so.

Big D    Suppose so!   Get real Stoney.   Who, according to the Christian Bible, is the creator of everything?

T.L.C.    God.

Big D    Then who is the creator of original sin?

T.L.C.    God.

Big D    Well then, it can only be that God is a sadistic, unforgiving, hypocritical, greedy, angry, stupid, lying son of a bitch.

T.L.C.    That’s no way to talk about God.   God will get angry at us for talking like that.   We’re supposed to fear Him, worship Him, and tell him how wonderful He is.   Lightning could strike us down at any moment.

Big D    That’s the ultra-conservative Christian belief about God you’re talking about and not God Him/Her/Itself.   The Sons of God I know think this whole anti-sex thing is rather laughable.   And besides, if the ultimate, Source-of-All Creation [God]  is such an egomaniac that He needs our worship and adoration and is such a shmuck that He gets pissed over a little humor, then we’re all in deep trouble.***pa-51-2 

T.L.C.    OK, tell me why you called God all those vile names.

Big D    Well, to start with, only a sadistic son of a bitch would lay guilt, shame, and punishment on billions of people who had absolutely nothing to do with eating that fruit.   According to the ultra-conservative version of Christian theology, all these billions of people weren’t even created when this so-called-crime was committed.   

T.L.C.    Let me see if I have this straight.  Because Eve ate a piece of fruit, now, thousands of years later, God is still intentionally creating everyone evil?  

Big D    Yup.

T.L.C.    Are you sure that's accurate? 

Big D    Well, that’s the story according to the way the fundamentalist Christian leaders tell it.   

T.L.C.    That's the dumbest story I've heard since water became wet.   Are you sure it's God doing this, and not some criminally-insane imposter pretending to be God?

Big D    I'm just repeating what the conservative Christian leaders say.   

T.L.C.    Wouldn’t you think after all the thousands and thousands of years, any God worthy of the name would be willing to forgive and forget? — to let bygones be bygones?   

Big D    Nope!   Not this spiteful pit viper.   He holds the absolute record for holding onto the longest grudge in all of creation.

            And talk about hypocrites!   This slime ball preaches forgiveness.   He even sends His own flesh and blood kid right down here to Earth to preach to all of you about being forgiving.   In the Bible, He stresses forgiveness.   Here's just one example.   Do you recall this line in a prayer to God:  "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us."  

T.L.C.    Of course!  That's from The Lord's Prayer.

Big D    Which is at the heart of Christianity.   So, here's God himself telling us to forgive everyone,  "turn the other cheek."    "Judge not"  and all that other good-guy stuff.    

            And all the while, the hypocritical horse’s ass sits up there on that lily white cloud of his and holds a grudge since the very beginning of creation.   That must be the record for the most blatant hypocrisy of all time.

           And also, that must have been one hell of a fruit.   Just think, to top all this off, the greedy pig has a whole damned tree full of fruit.   And besides, He’s all-powerful.   He can create a million more trees full of the same kind of fruit, and yet this selfish bastard can’t spare just one bite from just one fruit from just one tree.

T.L.C.    You forgot lying.

Big D     Oh yeah. I’m getting a little carried away here.   This God claims to be forgiving.   He says, “Pray to Me for forgiveness, and I’ll forgive you.”   Well, He sure is lying about that.   If He won’t forgive and forget just one bite out of just one little piece of one fruit, He’s certainly not forgiving.  He's a lying lizard!   Just think for a moment about all those poor, un-forgiven, former Catholics He has burning in hell for eating meat on Friday.   And what other transgressions has He professed to forgive and is still secretly and grudgingly holding onto?   You’d better cover your ass when this clown’s around.

            And did you ever wonder what kind of God would put a forbidden tree right there under Eve’s nose?   Everyone knows women are curious creatures.   You ever seen women in a shopping mall?   They go around looking at things, touching things.   And this stupid son of a bitch puts a forbidden-fruit tree right there in the middle of an "Eden shopping mall."   What did the dumb clod  expect?

           And then there’s the little deal with Adam.   If Adam was like any guy, today with a lick of love in his heart, he'd have wanted to please his woman.   So here's Adam doing as any man would do who has a loving woman in his life, he does things to please her.   So for nothing more than loving and pleasing Eve, Adam gets the death penalty and also gets his complete ass kicked clear out of Paradise.   Talk about the punishment not fitting the crime, whew!

          And not only that, if this God-character was going to get pissed if someone touched His precious tree, wouldn’t you think He’d have been smart enough to put the freekin’ tree someplace else, unless of course, the whole thing was a maniacal setup of a manipulating sadist which it almost certainly was.  

T.L.C.    Now you're claiming the God wants humans to suffer.    

Big D    Wake up, Stoney.   It's not me!   It's the evidence!  Just look at the evidence.   This so-called loving God must be the world's greatest master of producing pain and misery.   The evidence clearly tells anybody with a lick of common sense and the courage to look at the facts that God must have intentionally set up this whole forbidden fruit thing. 

T.L.C.    Why do you say that?

Big D    Because this con artist, who has gall enough to claim himself to be a loving, forgiving God, also claims to be all knowing -- He claims to know ahead of time what someone’s going to do.   So He obviously knew way ahead of time that Eve was going to take a bite out of that forbidden fruit.   Talk about entrapment? Wow!   What a psycho screw-up this God is!

T.L.C.    Is there anything else?

Big D    There's still the unanswered question of what was it that Eve and Adam actually ate.   If, as some claim,  the forbidden fruit was actually "the knowledge of the difference between good and evil," then perhaps God should eat a bushel  of those fruits himself.   

T.L.C.    What makes you say that God doesn't know the difference between good and evil.   

Big D    By examining His behavior, one could easily reach that conclusion.   In a world where love, care, compassion, forgiveness, consideration for others, consistency, predictability, and dependability are valued human characteristics in any close relationship, the God of fundamental Christianity ranks between F- and  zero.  

T.L.C.    Are you sure we're talking about God, here?   This so-called-God sounds to me more like a carnival con man.

Big D    Well, to use an old cliché, "I certainly wouldn't  buy a used car from him."  

T.L.C.    Big D, you asked me to think, so here's my conclusion:  I see three possibilities.   Either God is all those things you said He is,  or the Fundamental Christian leaders are misreading the Bible,  or the God of fundamental Christianity is  an imposter.   Could it be that one of God's sons is pretending to be God, Himself?

Big D    Let's compare the God of fundamental Christian theology with both the evidence and what the Christian Bible tell us is most like the truth about God.   

T.L.C.    Are you suggesting that I look for God with a combination of head and heart?

Big D    Wow!   Congratulations!   You really do have you head in gear.     Stoney, there just might be hope for you, yet.   

T.L.C.    I'm sure you know that as part of my job as an investigative reporter, I sometimes ask tough questions.   You have my question.   What's your answer.

Big D    I don't have an answer.   Suppose we let the evidence speak for itself.   Perhaps there's an answer there.  

T.L.C.    Ok.   

Big D    Well, the make-believe-God-story is  just too-far-fetched a story to be believable, and it's simply unprovable.***pa-51-3    However, when one examines the Bible and looks for evidence supporting a different conclusion, one finds are several significant passages that are being ignored.    This  leads to the logical conclusion that the Fundamental Christian leaders are misreading the Bible.    

T.L.C.    Ok, let's see those passages.   

Big D    We'll get to that soon, but first, I need to take you through the crucifixion story.

________________________

The Story Continues in Chapter Fifty-Two`    

Interview with The Devil  --  Table of Contents`   

Chapter References       

***pa-51-1       Chapter   6°   ---  Life Begins When ???°   

***pa-51-2    The distinction between the ultra-conservative Christian belief about God as an angry, fickle, vindictive  superhuman being sitting on a  cloud in the sky and God as the infinite, unlimited, unknowable source of all creation is ignored here.   This issue will be dealt with in detail in a later chapter.   Chapter  54°     Readers are also directed to the web page titled, Spiritual Awareness:  http://www.lifecoach4vip.com/m071-spiritual-awareness.html° 

***pa-51-3      For those interested,  the Imposter-God Story is included at the bottom of this page.