Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible

The Gospel according to Ruth

This book represents feminist freethought at its best. Far too often, the books that critique religious lunacy are by men. That is OK, but women have a voice in freethought too. Remember Madelyne Murray O'Hare [sp?]? Perhaps the most devastating section of the book is the chapter that lists all of Jehovah's multitude of sins against humanity, verse by verse, taken as is, against which there are no excuses or arguments. The God of the Bible is a maniac, a sadistic monster. The God of the New Testament is even worse contrary to popular opinion. You see Jehovah mostly confined his torture to THIS world. The more platonic God of the New Testament, a creation of Judaism and paganism merged, will now torture those he hates, which is just about everybody but the 'elect', for all eternity! There are no fire and brimstone in the Old Testament, but plenty in the New. In the appendices, there is a very interesting section called 'The Gospel according to Ruth' hence my headline above. Ruth's lifestory is interesting. However, fate decreed terminal cancer, which took the life of our author. The Freethought movement is first and foremost at the front of returning to the individual the rights and responsibilities that God and the State have stolen from him, including the right to determine his life's course and when and if it should end. I've always been a supporter of PAS, or voluntary euthanasia, and Ruth herself adopted self-deliverance when the cancer had destroyed all quality of life. I respect that. She lived as she spoke, simple but erudite, clear and no nonsense. While I do not support the entire feminist agenda, I agree wholeheartedly with Ruth that the Bible [even more so the Quran] has been a principle source of oppression for women of the world. The Bible more than any book in the Western world has fostered the notion that women are best 'barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen'. I myself, a man, was sickened even as a child by the scene in the gospels where a woman is slavishly washing Jesus X's feet with her tears and drying it off with her hair. This sign of 'respect' that even the disciples were shocked at, is nothing but a sign of slavish subservience, the attitude of a slave that evidently Jesus must have loved. There is an interesting verse that mentions Jesus' groupies '...ministering to him of their substance.' I think people need to get real. Do you think Jesus was necessarily a virgin? He may have gotten married but the truth was supressed when the fictional Jesus was invented. He also may have made use of groupies and cult followers much like David Koresh and Jim Jones. Very frequently cult leaders [almost all men] make liberal use of women followers even if married to other men. Does this sound like Jesus? Probably not with 2000 years of whitewash and propaganda making him the perfect suffering servant of God. I think not. I think, but cannot prove, that all the typical signs of a personality cult are there in the four main gospels, that Jesus may in truth been up to some rather sinister activities. The revolutionary movements he was connected to are obvious to anybody who can see. His disciples carried swords on their persons. Why call Jesus the 'Prince of Peace' when he said himself 'I came not to bring peace but a sword'. And this sword has caused the death of millions since, not the least the estimated 100,000 or more women burnt at the stake as witches by the 'Holy' Inquisition. Perhaps this book is intended for women as women by in large make up the church. Go to just about any church and old ladies make up 50% or more, except for the modernist 'hip' churches that use lessons learned from celebrities and Wrestlemania to create a great show and attract a big crowd. It's time the women get real about this God they serve and adore. After all Jesus makes a perfect fantasy lover---he will die for you, give you anything you want, and ask nothing from you, including sex. No wonder the ladies love him so. The BASG

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