Essay/Term paper: Intrinsic flaws of christianity

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

Christianity is a religion in
which events are claimed to have occured but which can
never be proved. Those who practice it live by different
morals than are preached by the most holy texts. It is an
institution in which the most holy scripture is contradictory,
and wherein the supreme being, by the very definition,
cannot exist. Christianity is, therefore, a fundamentally
flawed religion. According to the Bible, events have
occured which are even more miraculous than the
resurection of Jesus Christ. Events such as the stopping of
the sun by Joshua (Joshua 10:12-14), the reversal of the
sun's course by Isaiah (Isaiah 38:7-8) , the resurrection of
the saints, and their subsequent appearance to many
(Matthew 27:52-53) were witnessed by thousands of
people. The stopping and reversal of the sun would have
been visible worldwide. The idea that people could have
witnessed these events without having been amazed by
them is, quite simply, ludicrous. Other cultures having
witnessed this would certainly have offered their own
explanations in keeping with their own cultural and religious
beliefs. Surely a society existing at the time would have
documented this miraculous event. Yet nowhere have such
works been found. In the instance of the resurrection of the
saints, Matthew is the only person to mention this
occurence in the Bible. Surely other first-century Christians
would have used this as further proof of Jesus' divinty. It
would fall to reason that Paul and the gospels would have
mentioned it. This is not, however, the case. Nowhere else
in the Bible is this mentioned or even hinted at. These
events are then, at best, highly unlikely to have occured.
The fact that Matthew is alone in writing of the resurrection
of the saints leads us to believe that certain writers of the
Bible had differing views on christianity. The christian Bible
is highly contradictory, not just to modern day christian
beliefs, but in and of itself. Today's society is of the belief
that all people are created equal, and Christians submit that
their god is of the same belief. Modern Christians believe
that their god loves everyone, and that they are all equal.
However, after Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree
forbidden by god, this deity said to Eve "I will intensify the
pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth
children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he
shall be your master." (Genesis 3:16). This tells us that,
according to the Christian religion, women shall naturally be
dominated by men. This kind of behavior is not conducive
to a being who believes in inherent equality. Women are
repeadtedly treated as objects and told to be submissive in
the Bible. "According to the rule observed in all the
assemblies of believers, women should keep silent in such
gatherings. Rather, as the law indicates, submissiveness is
indicated for them. If they want to learn anything, they
should ask their husbands at home. It is a disgrace when a
woman speaks in the assembly." (1 Corinthians 14:34-35).
"Man was not made from woman but woman from man.
Neither was man created for woman but woman for man.
For this reason, a woman ought to have a sign of
submission on her head." (1 Corinthians 11:8-10). The
Bible also permits bondage. "Slaves, male and female, you
may indeed possess, provided you buy them from among
neighboring the nations. You may also buy them from
among the aliens who reside with you and from their
children who are born and raised in their land. Such slaves
you may own as chattels, and leave to your sons as their
hereditary property, making them perpetual slaves."
(Leviticus 25:44-46). This same Bible gives laws on the
punishment of slaves. "When a man strikes his slave with a
rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be
punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two,
he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own
property." (Exodus 21:20-21) We find further examples of
prejudice in Deuteronomy. In the Bible, it is stated that "No
one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has
been cut off may be admitted into the community of the
Lord. No child of an incestuous or adulterous union may be
admitted into the community of the Lord, nor any
descendant of his even to the tenth generation."
(Deuteronomy 23:2-3). Consider the first statement. If a
faithful Christian were to get in an automobile accident with
a resulting injury to his genitals, he would not be admitted
into Heaven. The second statement is even more ridiculous
than the first. An innocent child, through no fault of its own,
is born a bastard. He may not be admitted into heaven. But
more than that, none of his descendants may ever be
admitted. These are not characteristics which are normally
associated with justice and goodness. These are petty,
cruel actions. This is not the only discrepancy in the
christian Bible. Judah's daughter-in-law, Tamar, is said to
have been a harlot (Genesis 38:24). Because of her
harlotry, she became pregnant (Genesis 38:25). She had
twins and named them Perez and Zerah. "These are the
descendants of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron was the father of Ram, Ram was the father of
Amminibad, Amminibad was the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon was the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father
of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed, Obed was the
father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David."
(Ruth 4:18-22). Therefore David, King of Israel, was a
descendant of a bastard and subsequently should not have
been allowed into the community the Lord. This is a huge
contradiction, as David is such an important figure in the
bible. The contradiction involving David pales in
comparison, however, to the one of the very definition of a
supreme being. In Christianity, Christ is central in atoning
for the sins of mankind. Had there been no sins of mankind,
there would be no story of Christ. The nature of sin must
then therefore be analysed. It is accepted by Christians that
god created everything. If this is true, then this same god
created evil. It is written in the Bible that god is all-knowing
(1 John 3:20). God is, in effect, omniscient. If god is
omniscient and creates, he then knows all possible
outcomes of all possible creations of all possible universes.
If he created our universe, he chose what its destiny would
be. In doing so, he chose the paths of our lives. Thus, we
can conclude that the universe is completely deterministic to
god and, by being a creator, he cannot allow freewill to
exist unless the universe is no longer predetermined to him.
If this is true, then humanity is merely a collection of
automotons. If this is not not true, then god cannot be
omniscient. If the Christian god were omniscient, then he
could foresee his own future. If this being knows its own
future, he does not have the power to change it.
Considering, however, that god is omnipotent, there is a
major conflict with his omniscient nature. If god were able
to change his future, that would mean that god would not
be able to foresee when he would make sudden changes in
his future and what changes would result, eliminating the
possibility of his being omniscient. Therefore, these qualities
cannot be held simultaneously by one being. It is important
now to look at the possibility of omnipotence. The
Christian god is perfectly good and omnipotent. Yet evil
exists. If god is omnipotent and perfectly good, he could
and would dispell evil. Three possible conclusions arise
from these statements. God is perfectly good but evil exists,
so he is not able to dispell evil and thus is not omnipotent.
The second possible conclusion is this: that god is
omnipotent but evil exists, and god is therefore not
perfectly good. The last possible, and most feasible,
conclusion is that god does not exist. It can easily be seen
that Christianity is a religion based on falsehoods and has
many intrinsic flaws. They are seen by the fact that the
followers of this religion do not conduct themselves in the
manner proscribed by their most holy texts. These errors
reside in the facts that these same texts are contradictory,
and that their very god cannot possibly exist. These errors
and omissions are then covered by a vague concept.