Hello Nunya, thanks for taking the time to respond.
I appreciate you taking the time to dialogue with me. I’ll take your words seriously and respond to each part.
I only ask that you take my words seriously, as well. Don’t assume that my answers are the same you’ve already seen.
After all, you and I are frustrated by many of the same things. Every time you write, I feel more common ground shared with you.
Let’s begin. You said:
“I would love to see you and another Medium author, Sheng-Ta Tsai, debate or critique each others writings. He is a former Christian whose salient points and articles on this app make much more sense IMO than yours.”
I’ve engaged with Sheng-Ta a few times already. He is a very smart guy, indeed.
You can read one of our exchanges here:
https://medium.com/@sttsai/sanhedrin-is-part-of-the-talmud-this-particular-collection-is-dated-third-to-sixth-century-ad-91ff1b40c05d
You said:
“Ultimately, all human morals can be derived from the golden rule and species preservation including self sacrifice. It’s very frustrating when Christians try and claim love and the golden rule as their own when unrelated civilizations have been doing this for millennia prior.”
My friend, you’re proving my point!
Of course civilizations all over the world picked up on this. God wrote His moral law on our hearts!
If civilizations all over the world hadn’t picked up on it, that would disprove my point.
But the fact that everyone all over the world recognizes the same basis for their morality is exactly what I’ve been saying.
You said:
“And again, even if this proves a god, it still doesn’t need to be the Christian one.”
Yet it does prove a God very much like the Christian God exists — One whose basis for morality is the Golden Rule, as you’ve observed, and as Jesus and Paul decree.
You said:
“As someone raised in church for over twenty years, many things led me away from believing Christianity as the one true religion. One of these was the constant polishing of a turd in regards to the many biblical horrors which you again are attempting to do. Slavery is condoned in parts as is genocide.”
I hear you, my friend. Believe me, I do.
But let me ask you to consider this: I’m not the one engaging in revisionist history. Rather, those who insist the Bible condone slavery are the ones revising history.
It’s remarkably easy to prove.
You can do it with one question: why are there no slave markets or slave traders in Israel? Why is there no slave class?
If the Bible condoned slavery — where is it?
Shouldn’t the narratives in Samuel and Kings be chock full of slavery if it was condoned? Why are there no slave markets or slave traders?
It’s not as if the Bible doesn’t know of them. Joseph’s brothers sell him as a slave to a band of Ishmaelite slave traders.
But once Israel becomes a nation and follows God’s laws, such things disappear completely.
Why?
Because they were outlawed.
Exodus 21:16 requires no twisting (or polishing). It’s simple, clear, and unambiguous:
“Whoever steals a person and sells them, and anyone found in possession of them, shall be put to death.”
The word for “steals” is the same word Joseph uses to describe what his brothers did to them. What they did to Joseph is what this law outlaws — stealing a free person, making them a slave, selling them into someone else’s possession.
The Law punishes this with death.
That’s why it disappeared from Israel.
You said:
“And for the stakes being so high (eternal torment), the authors of the Bible sure did a piss poor job of clarity when they include passages like these which need such mental gymnastics like yours to reconcile.”
No gymnastics required, my friend.
Read the narratives and notice how slave traders and slave markets disappear under God’s laws.
Read Exodus 21:16 and see how clearly it outlaws slavery.
You said:
“I can concede there could be a god and if so, I hope and assume he’s loving. Loving enough to accept more than the the narrow band that Christians are all too happy to condemn them too.”
Thus is one of those things that frustrates us both.
No Christian should “happily condemn” anyone.
Anyone who happily condemns someone else is not following Jesus. They might call themselves by His Name, but their hearts have no similitude with Him.
Jesus loved His enemies so much He gave His life to save them.
He didn’t happily condemn anyone.
Jesus died to save everyone who wants to be saved.
You said:
“I would honestly love to be able to believe in Christianity. Believe me, I’ve tried as have millions of others. My brain just won’t accept it. It’s just too nonsensical to me.”
If you can accept there’s a God of love, you’re almost all the way there.
To be clear: a lot of the stuff that frustrates you about Christianity frustrates me, too. Christian can be endlessly frustrating.
But Jesus isn’t.
Jesus is love.
The easiest way to be split away from Christianity is to focus on Christian’s. We’re a messed up bunch and I’m the first to admit it.
But Jesus is love.
Jesus is the reason to believe. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is Christianity. Not the rattled mess we’ve made of it.
Real Christianity is being like Christ — loving like Jesus loved.
Let me encourage you to read a Gospel. I recommend Luke. He tries to balance men and women, Jew and Gentile. More stories are told about women in Luke than all the others.
Read the Gospel and keep your eyes on Jesus. Watch how He loves. Watch how He leads. Watch how completely different He is from the Christians who frustrate you so much.
Let yourself see Him anew.
He is endlessly captivating.
And, if you’re comfortable with it, ask God go open your eyes while you read. What can it hurt? If God is real, He can help you see Him.
