T H E 10 R E J E C T I O N S

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." – Genesis 1:1, NASB

"for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible…"  – Colossians 1:16, NASB

According to the Bible, every created thing, every star, every galaxy, every molecule, was made by one omnipotent, omniscient being. Creation is a spectacular wonder, demonstrating unimaginable power and intelligence.

This being knows the future, knows every thought, and holds all existence in its hand.

I simply cannot believe that the very next step for this infinitely sophisticated entity would be to desperately seek the obedience, love, and worship of the little dirt creatures it made on planet Earth. Even more illogical is the idea that this all-knowing creator would then become enraged when these same creatures fail to meet demands it knew they would fail to meet, leading to floods, wars, and eternal torment.

To even suggest such a portrayal of the Great Creator is not just illogical; it's a shameful insult, a celestial slap in the face to “God.” It makes no sense!

“The greatest evidence supporting the validity of Christianity over all other religions is the superiority of its music. The greatest evidence against is Christians.” - JD Karlson, 2022

A. Atrocities

Historically, Christians have committed numerous atrocities believing they were guided by God; the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, witch hunts, and slavery, to name a few.

(for more information on this, see “Was This God’s Will?”)

I can't believe a righteous and loving God would be the force which caused some humans to so horrifically treat other humans through massacres, starvation, torture, burning at the stake, branding, and so much  more, including rape. Actions the  perpetrators claimed to be orders from God. 

B. The Holy Spirit

Christians today believe the action of “accepting Jesus into their hears as their personal savior” also causes the Holy Spirit to reside in them. The Holy Spirit is God, one third of the trinity. If they have God living in them their lives should show it. The mighty, one-true God who created the entire universe lives inside them and yet there is no difference between Christians and non-Christians. You have good and bad in both. No difference. There is no Holy Spirit and there is no God.

It's ironic that many Christians reject evolution, while the speed and scope of Christianity's own evolution would make Darwin's head spin.

From its earliest forms, Christianity has continually transformed – adapting its core beliefs, changing its relationships with worldly powers, and radically altering its actions throughout history. 

What began as one idea has morphed into millions of variations, often unrecognizable from their origins. This flexibility, enabling it to change with the times and become whatever its adherents need, reveals not divine constancy, but human construction. An "unchanging God" would lead to an unchanging faith.

When I was a senior in high school, I "got saved." I prayed the sinner's prayer and asked Jesus into my heart. Little by little, I grew closer to God. Much of this was the result of listening to Christian radio where I heard Bible teachings and songs of the faith. 

After a couple years, I joined an Independent, Fundamental Baptist Church and became immersed in its programming. I fervently sought God through intense Bible study, prayer, fasting, worship, and memorizing hundreds of Bible verses on note cards. This period brought many good friends and a strong sense of belonging.

I gave Christianity my all, including much of my money. I would donate 10% of all I earned to my church and then on top of that I donated to radio ministries like "Through the Bible Radio" with Dr. J. Vernon McGee, "The Chapel of the Air," "Focus on the Family" and other Christian causes.

Yet, as a person guided by logic and reason, a quiet unease began. I saw perceived contradictions in the Bible and struggled with the actions attributed to God the Father, and also, at times Jesus. Initially, I dismissed or excused these inconsistencies. But over time, they became impossible to ignore or justify. My daily journaling, a record of both spiritual victories and profound struggles, ultimately led me to one undeniable conclusion: I could no longer believe in the Christian God.

I had weighed Christianity on the Scale of Truth and found it wanting.

Based on my experience with prayer and what I've observed in others, its nature is best summed up by this short analogy from Tim Sledge:

"I pray to a large rock in my back yard, and it works! When I get what I ask for, I thank the rock. When I don't get what I ask for, I trust that the rock knows best. When I do something wrong, I ask the rock to forgive me, and I feel cleansed. I share my gratitude for all the good things that happen to me with the rock. And sometimes it's not about expressing gratitude or asking for anything from the rock. It's simply that talking to the rock makes me feel better. Actually, praying to the rock works in the same way as praying to the God of any religion."

For more on my perspective, especially concerning widely prayed-for situations, please see my article, "Terri Schiavo, The Most Prayed-for Person of All Time?"

My Ways are Higher than God’s Ways

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” — Isaiah 55:8-9, NASB

For many Christians, this verse serves as a final defense for God's more troubling actions: we cannot possibly understand the mind of an infinitely superior being, so we must not pass judgment. We are simply too small.

Yet when I read the Bible, I do not see a being whose thoughts are higher than my own. I see a god  (small g) who is vengeful, easily angered, and quick to kill—one who demands absolute obedience and is willing to drown the world in a flood, destroy entire cities, and command genocide to achieve his aims. His actions reflect not a superior consciousness, but rather the flawed morality of the ancient men in ancient times who wrote about him.

I've come to a simple, yet undeniable conclusion: as a human, I am a better being than the god of the Bible. I reckon there are billions of others like me!

God is known for being a stickler for order, for insisting on no variations with His directives and goals. Christians believe that He is not the author of confusion. Yet Christianity is riddled with a level of confusion that makes this claim absurd. One truth, one God, and one book has resulted in tens of thousands of denominations, all claiming to be the right one, with many having no tolerance for the others.

When I was a fundamentalist Christian, my church believed that most other denominations—especially Catholics—were doing it wrong and because of that would suffer eternal punishment in hell. This endless inter-Christian fighting, condemnation, and doctrinal contradiction demonstrates that God has indeed authored much confusion resulting in great harm to the many people he supposedly created to love.

God and His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Plan

The biblical narrative, which is supposed to be God’s masterful plan for humanity, is simply incoherent. For a being of infinite wisdom, his decisions are baffling. 

In the Garden of Eden, his brilliant plan for all of creation was undone immediately by a talking snake which HE created! He later told Noah that because the earth was filled with violence, he was going to violently destroy it. 

His ultimate plan for salvation is perhaps the most nonsensical: in order for humans to be forgiven for their sin, God sacrificed himself to himself to save us from himself. This is not the work of a brilliant mind; it's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad plan!

The many and well-documented biblical atrocities committed by God in the past and into eternity are nothing short of evil.

Ultimately, Christianity is just another religion. They all come from a human need to explain this earthly existence. 

They are man-made and have been propagated by humans to give hope, to establish community and social order, and to conquer and control others. 

As a believer, my list of false religions contained every religion in the world except for one - mine! 

And now, with eyes wide open, that one has joined the others, making it 100%.