Christianity – What is it?

Let’s examine some vocabulary

• A disciple is defined as a personal follower of Jesus during his life, especially one of the twelve Apostles..
• Other words directly associated with Christianity are denomination, gospel and trinity.

Why is vocabulary important?

If we want to look at a time that predates Christ, we must use non-Christian vocabulary to find what we want; for example, we should search for “followers” and not disciples.

Let’s look at some of the common symbols and practices associated with Christianity

• The cross symbol predates Christ. It was used for religious and cultural purposes in various forms, appearing in cultures across Asia, Africa, and Europe as a symbol of life, good luck, fertility, and the connection between heaven and earth. Examples include the Egyptian Ankh, the Babylonian Tau cross, and the Greek cross found on Egyptian monuments. While the symbol itself predates Christianity, the specific association of the cross with Jesus’s crucifixion and the Christian faith only began after the first century AD
• The Ichthys fish symbol was originally a Pagan symbol of birth and fertility. Pagans knew it as “the Great Mother”, and/or “womb”. Ichthys was the offspring of the ancient Sea goddess Atargatis, and was known in various mythic systems as Tirgata, Aphrodite, Pelagia, or Delphine
• The “Three Hares” symbol’s oldest known depictions are found in the Mogao Caves (or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas) in Dunhuang, China, dating to the Sui dynasty (6th–7th centuries). This was originally a Buddhist motif and not Christian.
• Before the advent of Christ, the number 12 symbolized completeness, divine authority, and perfect government, particularly within the Judeo-Christian tradition through the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 major gods of Olympus in Greek mythology. This symbolism was rooted in observable patterns, like the 12 months of the year, and established societal structures, such as court juries
• Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic pagan festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the harvest season, and the beginning of the dark, cold winter.
• In the Roman Empire, December 25th was associated with pagan festivals such as the Saturnalia and the feast of Sol Invictus, a celebration of the rebirth of the “unconquered sun”
• The modern Christmas tree has significant roots in pagan traditions, particularly the use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter solstice. Ancient cultures, including the Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews, used evergreens to symbolize eternal life
• Easter traditions such as the Easter bunny, eggs, and pastel colors, all have deep roots in pagan festivals of spring and fertility, linked to traditions surrounding the Germanic goddess Eostre. The date of Easter was derived from the Jewish Passover and determined by a calculation involving the vernal equinox and the first full moon.
• There have been many “followers” before Christ. The ancient Egyptians, particularly the predynastic rulers and pharaohs, were followers of Horus, for example.
• Virgin births, resurrections and miracles existed before Christ (see below)
• There are many more beliefs/practices that don’t have Christian origins.

Why is this important?

In modern-day society, if a school-boy has used or copied another students work and submitted it, his teacher has every right to fail it. If the same boy has a history of this behaviour, the school he attends, has every right to expel him and rightly so.

if there were just one or two incidents, we could dismiss this as being purely coincidence. In the case of Christianity, the vast number shown above are too numerous to classify this way. They raise questions concerning the validity of Christianity. So, let us start looking at some of their core beliefs and see if there is a repeating pattern.

The virgin birth

• The Ebionites, a very early Jewish-Christian sect, generally rejected the virgin birth of Jesus, believing him to be the natural son of Joseph and Mary.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Strangite) denomination explicitly rejects the virgin birth.
• Some other denominations, while not explicitly rejecting the virgin birth, may view it as a symbolic or metaphorical event rather than a literal one. Baptists are NOT required to believe in the Virgin birth.
• Matthew and Luke, are the ONLY gospels which give us the virgin birth story. They contain problematic details-both internally and in comparison to each other. For such an important belief, this is NOT irrefutable evidence. This constitutes a distinct lack of it. 
• More importantly, the virgin birth prophecy stems from a mistranslation of the Hebrew word ‘almah’ as ‘virgin’. This is the version Matthew used. The word ‘almah’ actually translates to ‘young woman,’ in the original Hebrew text.
• Luke was likely translating a Greek text that already used the word parthenos. 
• There are no records of Jesus or Mary explicitly claiming the virgin birth.
• The list of “virgin births” predating Christ includes Horus, Osiris, Mithras, Dionysus and Krishna. Heroes and historical figures like Ion, Romulus, Asclepius, and Alexander the Great were believed to be the generation of gods and the produce of virgin women. Some traditions also recount the virgin birth of Buddha, and in Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, was born of the virgin Coatlicue.
• The concept of Virgin births was not unique to Christianity and appeared across various ancient cultures, with different supernatural origins for conception, such as divine intervention, mystical visions, or other non-sexual processes.
• If you accept the virgin birth of Jesus and deny all the others, you have double standards. Denying them all is the least offensive to all religions
• From a scientific point a view, a foetus can be either have xx (girl) or xy (boy) chromosomes. The Y chromosome can ONLY come from a human father. A man’s sperm is also required to fertilise the egg and begin conception, Virgin births are thus impossible. There have been NO scientifically proven examples of a virgin birth.
• In summary – the mis-translations prove that even from a religious perspective, there is evidence to support Jesus as a virgin birth. We can thus discount this belief entirely.

Now, resurrections…

• Professor Ehrman has pointed out all four Gospels report the Resurrection of Jesus with vastly different details (see above). They differ in terms of the timing, the number of angels present, the specific women who visited the tomb, and the recipients of the “resurrection” message.. For these reasons, the resurrection of Jesus is not considered historically accurate or indeed provable by scientific standards.
• Unitarian Universalists generally view the resurrection of Jesus as a metaphor rather than a literal, physical event
• Some liberal or modernist Baptists reject the resurrection outright. Many Baptist factions have adopted more symbolic interpretations of the resurrection, focusing on its spiritual or metaphorical meaning rather than a literal, bodily return
• According to Matthew 27:51–53, many dead saints came back to life after the resurrection and went to Jerusalem, where they were seen by many people. The Bible records several resurrections, both in the Old and New Testaments. These include the resurrection of the widow’s son by Elijah, the son of the Shunammite woman by Elisha, a man thrown into Elisha’s tomb, the widow’s son by Jesus in Nain, Jairus’s daughter, and Lazarus by Jesus.
• Resurrection, thus, appears to have been a common event in the Bible and not always associated with the divine, etc. There is no reason why Jesus should be given special bias over and above anyone else.
• Islam believes in a Day of Judgment where all humans will be resurrected for judgment
• Zoroastrianism also includes a belief in a final judgment and resurrection
• In Ancient Egypt, Osiris was apparently resurrected after being murdered
• The Phrygo-Roman god Attis was said to be virgin born, killed and then resurrected
• There are many “resurrections” that pre-date Christ. In the Bible, figures like the widow of Zarephath’s son and the Shunammite woman’s son were raised from the dead by prophets. Other ancient mythologies, such as those of Osiris, Persephone, and Attis, tell of gods or heroes who died and were restored to life, etc.
• In Celtic Folklore, King Arthur’s soul was resurrected as a chough (type of crow).
• The Hindu concept of samsara involves a soul’s rebirth into different bodies, and the story of Savitri and Satyavan features a woman who tricks death to revive her husband. The Buddhist tradition also contains narratives of resurrection, while Islam teaches a future resurrection for all people
• Cold temperatures can delay the effects of cellular death, making resuscitation possible for longer periods after apparent death compared to warm environments. Palestine was not a cold environment. The human brain suffers irreversible cell depletion and/or damage within minutes of death. An unassisted resurrection of a body dead for longer an hour is not considered possible even with our current level of scientific knowledge and technology.
• Summary – Christian denominations do NOT agree on whether this event was real or metaphorical. From a Scientific point of view, unaided and unassisted resurrections in warm Palestine would have been impossible after about 15 minutes of death – let alone 3 days. We can thus discount resurrections entirely

Miracles

Numerous miracles are recorded in religious texts occurring before Jesus, particularly in the Old Testament, where Prophets like Moses and Elijah performed supernatural acts such as the parting of the Red Sea, raising the dead, and controlling nature. Beyond religious texts, the ancient world was rich with belief in miracles, with gods and mythical heroes like Heracles and Asclepius credited with healings and resurrections long before Jesus’ birth

David Hume, the renowned philosopher, famously argued that belief in miracles is irrational. He defined a miracle as a violation of the laws of nature, and argued that the evidence against such violations (based on our constant experience of natural laws) always outweighs any potential evidence in favour of a miracle, including testimony. He famously stated, “Which is more likely — that the whole natural order is to be suspended, or that a jewish minx should tell a lie?”.

In summary – Christopher Hitchens razor, states that claims without supporting proof don’t require evidence to be rejected. Miracles can thus be discounted entirely.

Messianic claims

There was great unrest and oppression under Roman rule. This led to the emergence of various leaders who promised liberation. Messianic claimants were not uncommon in 1st century Judea. Jesus was not the first nor the last. The Jewish historian Josephus names three that preceded him: Judas, son of the bandit chief Ezekias. Simon of Perea and Athronge. There is a long list of messianic claimants on Wikipedia. There is no reason to choose one and ignore the others. That is double-standards…

Religious texts

There is a long list of religious texts on Wikipedia. They often contain creation stories that differ significantly, even within the same religion, etc. 

The Ebionites

The Ebionites rejected the Apostle Paul’s teachings. The primary location for the Ebionites was in the regions of Palestine, Syria, and Transjordan, particularly around Pella, east of the Jordan River. After the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE and subsequent persecutions, they migrated to these areas and later spread to places like Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Cyprus, and even Rome. They were one of the very first Christian denominations/sects. The Ebionites can’t be dismissed because they were very close in time and place to the truth. They believed their teachings were based on Jesus’s words and deeds. They were later declared heretics by the proto-orthodox Church. You have to wonder why.

Was Jesus free of sin?

• Jesus called a Canaanite woman a dog (Matthew 15:24-27)
• In Luke 19:29 he commanded his disciples to steal a horse
• In Mark 11:12-25, he kills a fig tree because it has no fruit!
• In Mark 1:41, he gets mad when a leper asks to be healed
• In Matthew 21:12-13 and Mark 11:15-18, he throws tables up and trashes a temple, etc
• Speaks in parables to confuse people. Mark 4:12
• In Luke 14:25-34, he says: “If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—even more than your own life!”
• In Luke 13:3, Jesus states, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”. There is no evidence to back up this claim.
• In Luke 13:5 and Matthew 4:17, there is a connection between repentance and going to the kingdom of heaven and the avoidance of perishing. There is no evidence to back up this claim.
• There are many other citations I could make. Christianity has a biased and incorrect opinion on this issue.

Crucifixion

Crucifixion existed and was widely used as a form of brutal, shameful execution and psychological warfare long before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is believed to have originated with ancient peoples like the Assyrians and Babylonians, was systematically employed by the Persians in the 6th century BC, and later adopted by Alexander the Great and his successors, and then extensively by the Romans to punish slaves, pirates, political dissidents, and religious agitator.

There is no reason to accept that the crucifixion of Jesus involved any removal of sins. It is a truly sick idea. It is arguable that this belief makes Christianity a cult and not a religion. Why? No “loving” father would ever crucify and torture their own son to death and make them a scapegoat. If you have superpowers, you would simply forgive people of their sins without the human sacrifice! This to me, conclusively proves that Christianity is man-made.

There is a quote by Christopher Hitchens which starts “I find something repulsive about the idea of vicarious redemption”. You can find it on the internet. It deals with this topic very well.

Slavery

There are at least seven passages in the Bible where God is depicted as directly permitting or endorsing slavery. Two of these are in the Law of Moses: God permitted the Israelites to take slaves from conquered peoples permanently, and the Israelites could sell themselves into slavery temporarily to pay off debts (Exod 21:2-11; Lev 25:44-46). The other five passages are in the New Testament, where slavery as a social institution is endorsed and slaves are called to obey their masters “in everything” (Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22-4:1; 1 Tim 6:1-2; Tit 2:9-10; 1 Pet 2:18-20).

The Apostle Paul, in letters like Ephesians 6:5-8, instructs slaves to obey their masters with sincerity, as if serving Christ.  I openly challenge this thinking. Abraham Lincoln said, “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.’”. There are now NO countries world-wide where slavery is explicitly legal. No one should be a slave in any sense. Christianity is simply wrong on this issue.

Sexism

• Epistles like 1 Timothy 2:11-12, call for women to be silent and not hold authority over men
• “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does”, 1 Corinthians 7:3-4
• 1 Corinthians 14:34-35: Paul says, “. . . women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church
• There are hundreds of sexist verses including 1 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Corinthians 11:7 – 9, Ephesians 5:22–25:, 1 Timothy 2:9–15 and so on…

Many biblical narratives depict societies with a clear patriarchal structure, where men held dominant roles in family and community. The result of this has been a preponderance of male priests in Churches. Some early Christian writings, like those by John Chrysostom, expressed misogynistic views, attributing negative qualities to women, though he claimed he was speaking of “bad women.

The Bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world, that she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgement seat of Heaven, tried, convicted and sentenced, etc. Christianity  and the bible are wrong on this issue. There is no reason why women should not become priests of even the pope. They have every right to be treated equally. It is now a human right. Paul was sexist. The Bible is thus in contravention of the law and should be ignored.

Immoral sex

Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13, state that it is an abomination for a man to lie with another man as he would with a woman. In Romans 1:26-27, Apostle Paul says that homosexuality is contrary to God’s natural order and results from rejecting God. Additionally, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists homosexuality as one of the sins that will prevent someone from entering the Kingdom of God.

“This is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” (Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 3). Here, Paul understood “sexual immorality” to be any sexual activity outside the boundaries of biblically defined marriage, encompassing acts like adultery, premarital sex, and prostitution, as well as other forms considered incestuous or deviant, etc. All forms of LGBT sex would thus be sexually immoral. 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 says, “Flee from sexual immorality”.

“Coveting thy neighbor’s wife” is the ninth or tenth commandment in Judeo-Christian tradition, found in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. It is a stupid statement because my neighbours wife may have done some very good things such as bake me some cakes. Thinking about her in this way is empathic. It values her contribution and is likely to lead to better communication with her, etc.

Christopher Hitchens deals with this issue well. He said. “It’s a horrible idea that there is somebody who owns us, who makes us, who supervises us – waking and sleeping – who knows our thoughts, who can convict us of thought crime – thought crime! Just for what we think! – who can judge us while we sleep for things that might occur to us in our dreams; who can create us sick – as apparently we are – and then order us on pain of eternal torture to be well again. To demand this, to wish this to be true, is to wish to live as an abject slave!” He related thought crime to totalitarianism. Christianity is wrong on this issue.

Guided by the Holy Spirit

Sam Harris said, “You know, something good happens to a Christian, he feels some bliss while praying, say, or he sees some positive change in his life, and we’re told that God is good. But when children by the tens of thousands are torn from their parents’ arms and drowned, we’re told that God is mysterious, ok. This is how you play tennis without the net. And I want to suggest to you, that it is not only tiresome when otherwise-intelligent people speak this way, it is morally reprehensible. Ok, this kind of faith, is, is really the perfection of narcissism.” i

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins wrote: “Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, distinctly heard the voice of Jesus telling him to kill women” and also that George W. Bush says that God told him to invade Iraq (a pity God didn’t vouchsafe him a revelation that there were no weapons of mass destruction)”

Summary so far

We can easily question the core Christian symbols and beliefs. If that isn’t enough…

• Nowadays, if people act in accordance with the Bible and have slaves,  they could get imprisoned or worse. If people are openly sexist towards women, they too could be taken to court and be punished, etc.
• Richard Dawkins said, to “find the ‘good bits’ in religious scriptures, you have to cherry-pick. You search your way through the Bible or the Koran, and you find the occasional verse that is an acceptable profession of morality” The Bible is, thus, objectively moral.
• Phrases such as “guided by the Holy Spirit” are an excuse for any evil act imaginable
• There is no archeological evidence that Jesus ever existed.
• Jesus was not his real name! It is a form of the original Hebrew and Aramaic name, Yeshua
• The Gospels conflict. Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah King, focusing on the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies for a Jewish audience. Mark portrays Jesus as the servant Redeemer, offering an action-packed account for a Roman audience. Luke presents a historical account, highlighting Jesus as the Son of Man for a Greek audience. John focuses on the divine nature of Jesus as the Son of God for all humanity, with a more reflective and theological approach. So, which one is right?
• King James the first commissioned the King James Version of the Bible to be changed to resolve religious tensions and consolidate his authority. Many other Bibles were changed too.
• There are many different versions of the Bible because there were many manuscripts available. There are over 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts known to date, along with over 10,000 Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts and over 19,000 copies in Syriac, Coptic, Latin, and Aramaic languages. Which one is correct?
• In Scientific terms, a Y chromosome is required to create a boy and this can ONLY come from a male father. There is NO other way of getting this genetic information. There are NO historically proven examples of a virgin birth ever happening under scientifically validated conditions either for the same reason.
• All written accounts of virgin births and resurrections are likely to have come from largely uneducated and ignorant people. We should NOT revere them. There are no scientifically proven accounts ever occurring. There is no reason why Jesus should be given preferential treatment.
• Numerous individuals in the 1st-century Roman province of Judea claimed to be the Messiah. It has been a common claim for many people in history.
• Saul of Tarsus was a participant in the stoning of Stephen by holding the coats of the executioners, indicating his approval and involvement in the event. His persecution of early Christians included imprisoning them and dragging them from their homes, contributing to their suffering and potentially, their deaths. He referred to himself as the “chief of sinners” in 1 Timothy 1:15. Paul was a name he gave himself! These actions would bar him as a credible source in a court of law. We can thus dismiss the truthfulness and integrity of his letters (Acts). This includes his sexist opinions
• Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not their real names! The Gospels were written anonymously, Names were given to them later. How can we trust them?
• The four Gospels are believed to be based on a mixture of oral traditions that circulated after Jesus’ death and early written collections of stories. They were written in Greece.
• Before the Silk Road was invented, people traveled on the “Via Maris” to get from Palestine to Greece (where the gospels were written). The first Gospel of Mark was written in about 70 A.D. So, stories were told and retold many times before they got to Greece.
• Bart Ehrman, a prominent biblical scholar, argues that the Bible, is ultimately a product of human hands. He emphasises that the Bible was written, compiled, and transmitted by human beings over centuries, undergoing various changes and interpretations along the way. Ehrman’s perspective challenges the traditional view of the Bible as the inerrant and literal word of God
• The Gospels were written in Greek. Jesus’s everyday spoken language was likely to be Aramaic. It definitely was not Greek. Translation therefore occurred. It is easy to make mistakes when translating from one language to another
• If you have ever played Chinese Whispers, you will know that the stories changed many times before they reached the Gospel writers in Greece.
• The stories of Jesus and Dionysus share notable thematic similarities, including a divine birth, suffering, death, and resurrection, and connections to wine and miraculous events like prison breaks
• The story of Jesus has many symbols and beliefs found elsewhere prior to his birth. It can NOT be conclusively disproved that the story is a rehash of old myths.
• The gospels were changed many times – making it impossible to know the truth. Logically, therefore, they can’t be treated as fact.
• In modern times, Sathya Sai Baba was an Indian Guru that claimed to be an Avatar of God, the creator of the universe, and a reincarnation of the Shirdi Sai Baba. His followers attributed various miraculous abilities to him. His mother claimed a miraculous conception. He had over 100 million followers.
• In our enlightened age we now understand that resurrection is scientifically impossible. When a person truly dies, blood flow to the brain ceases and all brain cells die due to lack of oxygen. This is an irreversible process that completely precludes a truly dead person from coming back to life. An unaided and unassisted resurrection after three days is literally impossible. We can thus safely say that the account in the Bible is not meant to be taken literally
• Christopher Hitchens argued that the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is “the most dangerous idea in human history”. He believed it fundamentally alters one’s worldview, changing the universe from a meaningless chaos to a place of design, justice, and hope.

The evidence clearly shows that modern day Christianity is full of symbolism, practices and beliefs found elsewhere before Christ existed. The Bible makes many incorrect claims. The sheer amount of practices and beliefs stolen or syncretised from other sources can’t be ignored either. It raises the question of trust again!

In modern times, Sathya Sai Baba has showed how easy it is to create a belief system and get many followers. In terms of claims, how is Jesus any different from Dionysus, Horus, and Sathya Sai Baba? If you accept the claims made for one and reject the same claims in others, you have double standards. Logically, it is better to either accept or deny all the claims.

Trust is a huge issue…

• Paul was dishonourable
• The Bible doesn’t condemn or forbid slavery for anyone. The Bible is a radically pro-slavery document. Slave owners waved Bibles over their heads during the Civil War and justified it!
• We don’t know who the Gospel writers were. The Gospels and Bibles conflict with each other. Bibles and gospels were changed many times, etc 
• Many of the important beliefs and symbols have been syncretised from other cultures. The story of Jesus could be another example.
• Christian denominations can’t agree on what the core beliefs are.
• Religious people often have double standards (e.g. our virgin birth is correct and yours isn’t)
• The core beliefs are scientifically impossible!

Chuck Easttom has said, “Young Earth Creationism is essentially the position that all modern science, 90% of living scientists and 98% of living biologists, all major university biology departments, every major science journal, the American Academy of Sciences, and every major science organization in the world, are all wrong regarding the origins and development of life… but one particular tribe of uneducated, Bronze Aged, goat herders got it exactly right.”. His point also applies to any sacred text written a long time ago. 

It is simply easier to base ourselves in Science because as Stephen Hawking said, “Science works”. An increasing number of Countries and International Organisations choose to be non-religious or openly secular. France, China, Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, the United States, Sweden, and India are secular. The United Nations is secular. Amnesty is non-religious. Countries with state-promoted atheism include China, North Korea, and Vietnam. Other countries with significant atheist or non-religious populations include Sweden, Vietnam, Japan, and the Czech Republic. The United Nations charter is here

On January 3, 1954, Einstein wrote: “The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish”. If you disagree, please keep reading…

God – Can we define it?

Here are some facts.

• Approximately 24% of the world’s population identifies as religiously unaffiliated. So, the question is NOT important to them
• The majority of the world population according to the main Abrahamic religions will go to hell!
• There are estimated to be over 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide. In other words, there is no one single universally accepted set of Christian beliefs (see below for proof).
• There are many Islamic sects, Buddhist sects and sects in the other main faiths worldwide
• There are about 3,000 or more distinctly different Gods and religions world-wide. 

The definition of God and “word of God”, thus, differs greatly according to who you talk to and where they live, etc. Here are some facts…

1. 1. An increasing number of people do NOT believe in a God. They thus make no attempt to define it.
   2. Several religions do not center on the belief or worship of a god or gods. Buddhism, Confucianism, and Jainism are prominent examples of such non-theistic religions. As a result, Confucianism does not focus on a single, anthropomorphic god figure like many Western religions. The same can be said for Taoism, Scientology.and other belief systems
   3. (In Christianity and other monotheistic religions), God is the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.
   4. (In certain other religions), God is a superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity
   5. God is often depicted as being all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere. 

The appearance of God

1. 1. Some traditions depict God with human-like characteristics and forms, often in religious art and narratives
   2. Some religious philosophies, like Hinduism, describe God as formless and beyond human comprehension
   3. A few religions define God as an animal, for example, Amun was primarily the god of Thebes, he was associated with the ram and sometimes depicted with a ram’s head. In Chinese mythology, one of the five celestial emperors, Zhulong was a Red Dragon. Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is widely revered in Hinduism and beyond, including Jains and Buddhists. In Ancient Egypt, Ra, the sun god, was portrayed with the head of a falcon or ram, or even in other animal forms like a beetle, phoenix, or lion
   4. The Bible has differing descriptions including Genesis 1:27, Revelation 1:14-16, and John 4:24 

1. Islam strictly forbids any depiction of God, emphasising that he is one, indivisible, and incomparable
2. Buddhist texts, typically, do not have a description of God’s appearance as they did not believe in a creator. The texts acknowledge the existence of various deities, or devas, who are not seen as eternal or creators
3. There isn’t a single “holy book” for Greek mythology. There are, however, several important works serve as primary sources for understanding the myths and beliefs surrounding Zeus and other Greek gods. The Theogony by Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and the works of Homer (the Iliad and Odyssey). The Greek God, Zeus, is often described as a strong, imposing man with a regal body and long, often curly, hair.

Mass murder

In the New Testament, why did God have to kill his son to forgive human. There are a number of mass killings, apparently at God’s behest, that are recorded in the Old Testament:

1. The Flood (Genesis 6-8)
2. The cities of the plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19)
3. The Egyptian firstborn sons during the Passover (Exodus 11-12)
4. The Canaanites under Moses and Joshua (Numbers 21:2-3; Deuteronomy 20:17; Joshua 6:17, 21)
5. The Amalekites annihilated by Saul (1 Samuel 15)

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction”, Richard Dawkins

Notions of heaven and hell

• In John 14:6, Jesus states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” highlighting his role as the sole path to heaven. This quote emphasises that belief in Jesus and following his teachings is the only way to reach God and experience eternal life in heaven
• “There’s no Hell mentioned in the Old Testament. The punishment of the dead is not specified there. It’s only with gentle Jesus, meek and mild, that the idea of eternal torture for minor transgressions is introduced.”
• Heaven is depicted in differing and contrasting Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). It is a realm of eternal bliss and proximity to God, a reward for a righteous life. In other traditions, like Buddhism and Hinduism, heaven may be a temporary realm, and so on. And like Christianity, only believers get to go there!
• The concept of non-believers going to hell is primarily associated with Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Islam, which often emphasise a specific path to salvation and eternal life in paradise. Other religions, such as some interpretations of Judaism and Zoroastrianism, also contain elements of judgment and potential punishment for those outside their specific belief systems. 
• Approximately 71% of the world’s population are not Christian. Approximately 74% are not Muslim and so on. So, which faith is the right one to get to heaven? God doesn’t appear to tell us.

“God is the most unpleasant character in all of fiction; Jealous, petty, unjust, vindictive, misogynistic, homophobic, genocidal, capriciously malevolent bully” – Kenyan-born Atheist Richard Dawkins wrote in 2006. No mortal man has ever been as evil as God. If man is better than God, then why bother with him?

Defining  God – a summary

Which definition and/or book do you choose? Which culture is right? There is no way of knowing the answer and “God” doesn’t ever appear to help out in these regards. What we can say with certainty is that there is no one universally accepted definition of God, its appearance and anything else relating to it.

The problem of defining the Christian God is highlighted when you try to ask questions such as

• What does God look like?
• Where does it live?
• Can you provide proof of a metaphysical dimension?
• Does it have a gender and if so, which one?
• Is it an animal?
• How can I contact it?
• How does it survive?
• Did God have parents?
• How does it all work?

The answer to these questions are miracles and/or magic. This is childish and has been dealt with by David Hume and Christopher Hitchens

The lack of a universally accepted definition for any of definable characteristics leads me to conclude that God is indistinguishable from nothing. When children enter the Primary school playground, they get ridiculed for believing in Tooth Fairy. It is time, these metaphorical teddy bears were put to rest.

Richard Dawkins once said that “We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further”. As Ricky Gervais said. “There have been nearly 3000 Gods so far but only yours actually exists. The others are silly made-up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real.” The same criticism applies to religious texts.

Faith is, after all, often cited as an example of belief without evidence. The problem with this is simple, as Christopher Hitchens pointed out: “That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence” 

The problem of catastrophes and bad deeds, has been best summarised by Sam Harris; “Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely.

Stephen Hawking famously stated, “I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate.”. He also said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.“

Please do NOT wait and hope for an eternal afterlife (that doesn’t exist). That wastes your life. You get just one life. Please use it to the best of your ability. Carl Sagan believed that science is not just compatible with spirituality, but is a profound source of it. I urge you to understand it. You can find my other posts here