The Histories Of Alexander The Great And Jesus

Many Christian apologists deny that there are no contemporaneous or primary sources for the Jesus found in the Bible. Others will accept this reality but claim that many other historical figures also have weak historical support. Alexander the Great is one of their favorites in making the comparison. Is this a fair comparison? The following says "no."

While the historical sources for Alexander the Great have conflicting information about him and existing contemporary writings are rare, no respected source denies his existence: 

• Despite these problems with the sources, the existence of Alexander is a reasonable belief because he has wide and independent attestation from all types of sources and not just those of his own followers. Some of these sources date from his own time and are attested archaeologically, not just from later accounts. So, we don’t just have to depend on later historians such as Plutarch and Arrian. For example, reliefs at the Shrine of the Bark at Luxor in Egypt mention Alexander by name and depict him artistically during his lifetime (ca. 330-325 BCE). That would confirm his presence in Egypt mentioned by all major ancient sources. (see link for more)

Childhood Indoctrination: The Evil

I have posted many times on the harm of indoctrinating children into any religion (link). In essence, calling subjective experience/intuition evidence of a god to a young impressional mind blunts the reasoning ability of the child and makes the victim malleable to harmful ideology (link). 

Please take a half-hour of your time and click on the link below for a video exposing the thinking and actions of Christian apologists regarding how and why they poison young minds into unsupported and harmful dogma.

Brainwashing of children exposed

"That's Very Christian Of You"

In our Christian-saturated culture, it is assumed that when someone does a good deed he/she is "acting Christian." The Bible and Christian media support this common meme (here, for example). The truth is three-fold:

• Yes, there are some good sayings in the New Testament. However, there is NOTHING in Jesus' sayings that are good that can't be found in other religious and/or secular sources. In other words, they are not unique to Christianity.
• Many of the sayings of Jesus found in the Bible are downright evil. 
• The Old Testament is full of evil acts by God.

50 Reasons to be Ashamed (and not a fan) of Jesus

The Christian God is Evil

Christianity: Education Or Indoctrination?

"As an apologist, J Warner Wallace uses his background as a former detective to give himself an air of credibility. This causes him to overreach and present on topics he doesn't have the first clue about. He most notably does this by pretending that cold case detectives are qualified to be ancient historians and textual critics - but he also delves into other topics from time to time. In this case, he gives a weird presentation on education (in what looks like a staged classroom to no discernable audience) more or less insinuating that Moses, Jesus, and Christianity are responsible for education as we know it in the world today. He shows an absolute lack of understanding of history and basic educational methodology, but unfortunately, much of what he says can ring true on an intuitive and be appealing to a lot of Christians. Even worse, his message reinforces a terrible fundamentalist misconception of what education should be in the first place." Click on this link for the video. 

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the following 1000 years were controlled by Christianity and were called The Dark Ages for a reason. Things did improve with The Enlightenment, but Christianity still had a cultural grip on education and politics, as can be seen within European Colonialization. The colonialization of the USA reveals the total Christian control of education until just before the Revolutionary War, when my Alma Mater, The University of Pennsylvania, was established as the first non-sectarian college and the first university. Unfortunately, Christian control of education continues to be a troubling fact at all levels of education in the USA.

Claims Of Jesus' Resurrection Don't Need Proof?

Virtually all Christian apologetics reveal a misunderstanding or distortion of science and evidence. No greater example of this are the efforts to claim that the stories of Jesus' resurrection are true. Click on the link below to follow an interesting and concise rebuttal of an attempt to support the claim, even though it, admittedly, can't be proven: 

Why You Can't Prove Jesus' Resurrection 

William Lane Craig Is Particularly Dishonest

Virtually all religious apologists are dishonest due to the fact that, when presented with factual information against their dogma, they refused to look at it with open minds. However, William Lane Craig, who I have made several debunking posts against, is a master at this obfuscation. Click on the link below for an expose of this character flaw of his:

End of the End of the Kalam?

Christianity's "Fatal Error"?

"The problem of instruction is Christianity's biggest problem. Is the Bible perfect, literal, and inerrant? Or are there mistakes in the Bible? How was the Bible written and who wrote the Old Testament and New Testament? Why is it so hard to understand and correctly interpret? If an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient, and omnipresent God crafted such an important message for his children, we should expect it to be omni-coherent. Instead, we have altered copies of manuscripts - a convoluted anonymous mess riddled with scientific blunders, historical inaccuracies and anachronisms, internal contradictions, and failed prophecies. Let's explore the Bible and how it was written to see exactly why the Problem of Instruction is Christianity's Fatal Error."

Click on this link for further explanation regarding why the author regards this issue to be THE "Fatal Error" of Christianity:

Christians: A Warning

I apologize. I was wrong. You Christians were right all along. Finally knowing the truth, I feel obligated to give you the reasons why you should not associate with atheist infidels/heathens: 

H/T Michael Wooldridge (Religion is Cancer FB Group)

Two Lessons For Christian Apologists

One of my pet peeves with Christian apologists is that they just will not honestly engage with atheists. They consistently have their scripts and they will not seriously entertain what we are saying, particularly around the fact that there is no objective evidence to support their claims. Click on the links below from this week's The Atheist Experience YouTube show/podcast and listen to two open-minded, inquisitive Christians:

51:53 Christian-NY | An Example Of Being Convinced For Bad Reasons

1:24:03 Carlton-NT | Larger Storms Indicate End Times Are Near

Math Isn't Evidence of God

 I have written several posts debunking religious apologists' arguments from ignorance/God of the Gaps. Among them is the argument from mathematics. Click on the link below for a 10-minute video presenting another rebuttal to such:

Why Math isn't Evidence of God

Sex Transitioning And Conservative Science Distortion

Sexual transitioning is one prominent area in which conservatives misrepresent scientific findings to promote their unfounded ideology. Click on the link below for a video example of how to handle honest inquiry regarding the subject that can be extrapolated into other areas of conservative science deception (educate yourself, Ben Shapiro):

"At What Age Should Kids Be Allowed Hormones?"

Explaining Religious Experiences

 "All experiences are neurological experiences and occur inside the brain/mind. The event that triggers it may occur outside, but the experience is still inside the brain/mind."

"Sometimes multiple people report the same spiritual experience, but they are rarely if ever as widely, multiply, and independently attested as empirical experiences, and it's even more rare for these phenomena to be measured by instruments."

Click on the link below for a clear understanding of the source of religious experiences:

How Should We Explain Religious Experiences?

Hell: A Cruel And Incoherent Concept

"I argue that the notion of eternal conscious torment (ECT) leads to absurdities and that theists can easily avoid these absurdities by abandoning ECT. For example, a believer in ECT must defend the following proposition: 'A perfectly good, merciful, just, and loving God superintends the eternal conscious torment of human beings.' This proposition is incoherent simply in virtue of the meaning of those words. (The word 'superintend' implies responsibility without suggesting that God is directly involved in the minutia of operations.) If a being oversees the eternal torment of humans, that being is not perfectly loving, good, merciful, or just. But these divine attributes are far more central to theism than ECT. Since ECT leads to conflicts with core aspects of theism, and since ECT is not itself a core aspect of theism, theists should not believe ECT."

Click on the link below for a podcast debunking Hell:

Hell: Eternal Conscious Torment

Christianity: "No Salvation Outside The Church"

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6)

The earliest Christians took this statement literally. If they didn't, why did they spend so much time and effort to evangelize others? As time went on, it became clear that either not being exposed to Christianity or not accepting it in good conscience had to be addressed. The Catholic Church has done one of the better jobs of doing the former, but not so much the latter (link). Today, the more conservative Christian apologists get tangled in knots with incoherent defenses of the above Bible quote, as you can see in the links below:

God Won't Pardon You If You Have Never Heard Of Jesus 

The Absurd Reason Why God Doesn't Save Everybody

Word Labels, Atheism, And Evidence

In any discussion, it is important to define terms. This is certainly clear when the topics include atheism and evidence. Click on the link below for a good example of how to be clear in such situations:

My "Evidence" Is Just As Good As Yours

The Anti-Abortion Ideologues Are Ignorant Of Biology

One of the standard arguments from the so-called "Pro-Life" folks is that "Life begins at conception" and that scientists agree. Click on the link below for a podcast that blows this argument out of the water:

The Search For What It Means To Be Alive

Naturalism Vs Theism

Religious apologists like to manipulate the definition of words to obfuscate the truth: they have no objective evidence upon which to make their case. Click on the link below for an in-depth podcast analysis of the definitions of "naturalism" and "theism":

What is Naturalism?

Christian Morality: There's Nothing Special About It

(link)

Talk about circular reasoning, SMH 😕. Christian apologists try hard to sell the value of the "unique" morality of Christianity. Click on the link below for a quick rebuttal to such:

Religion does not determine your morality

"Pro-Life" Morality Debunked (One More Time)

I have posted several times on this issue. The above is an encapsulation of my stance regarding the morality of abortion. Click on the links below for two concise and informative videos that also help in this regard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQoSZixSFEw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn_7X9t3xTs

NOTE: If you have a hard time understanding the concepts of continuity of life/evolution, and change as the potential person develops, think in terms of emergence: for example, oxygen and hydrogen are not water until they merge to form it. Thus, parents - sperm and egg - zygote - embryo - fetus - viable person.

Correlation Is Not Causation, But - - -

- - - please show me the value of religion here:

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